Back in Time for The Factory

[lancashire lass]

I always enjoy watching the various "Back in Time" tv series because it gives an insight of what it was like during the period selected (what it looked like inside the house, food they ate, employment, what was happening at the time and how it impacted the families, and so on) I think this series was originally shown in 2018 but has been repeated on BBC 2 in the afternoon this week so I'm seeing it for the first time - in some ways, I felt I could relate to this particular time period (late 1960s to 1983)

For one, I was old enough to remember the fashion of the late 1960s to 1980s so the garments that the girls had to make were familiar. It was funny to see how the girls (born 10-20 years after) reacted to the fashion of the day.

And then there was the inequality of women in the workplace - that is, the difference in pay and attitude to women in general both inside, and outside, of the workplace. I can't say I had personal experience though when I was leaving high school (living abroad at the time), women rarely had careers but worked as clerical staff, shop assistant, teaching or nursing, and most expected to get married, have children and be a housewife while the husband worked. So I could relate to that.

The 1983 episode however, was very relevant to me. My father worked in the textile industry (that is, the production of cloth from raw cotton) and although the factory in the tv series was about the women working in the clothing industry, the demise of both industries were very similar - driven by cheap imports from south east Asia (especially Hong Kong) The British textile and clothing industry could not compete. It was also a time when inflation was high, and the rising cost of living meant people reduced their spending and looked for cheaper options. In the tv series, the fabric from abroad was cheaper than British cloth so that the clothing factory could try and produce cheaper clothing but it meant that British textile mills lost orders. The final episode of 1983 was very similar - I remember my father first lost his "overtime" - as a mechanic, he would service / repair the machines on a Saturday when they were shut down. He would get double pay which was an essential extra to make it a decent salary - when that ended, the household income was strained. In this episode, the man of one family had been made redundant so that meant less money available. There was no cost of living rise either - even the union rep had seen the books and there just wasn't any money for pay rises. Later in the year, the mill where my father worked had put forward proposed redundancies or the option for working 3 days a week while still retaining all the staff. I know my father was very worried about it at the time and this was reflected in the tv series as the women could see that not all was well in the factory.

As always with the Back in Time series, the family (or girls in this case) would find themselves doing something outside of the role - such as going on the work's annual day out or Christmas party, music and what was playing at the time and the artist as well as the media, (including the Sony Walkman - I used to think it was the best thing when I had one. It used to have amazing sound quality), bingo, lingerie parties and so on. Again, quite a nostalgic revisit of the more recent past.

[Mo]

I started work in the 60s. At ICI women were on 80% of the men's rate. And it was assumed you were someone's secretary.
I remember buying a mini dress with a kipper tie. The older, longer dresses looked so old-fashioned.