Made in Dagenham

This Friday, Catherine and I discovered we were temporarily childless (convocation of three in London, another enjoying the student life in Aberystwyth). So we decided to eat out, and then go to a movie. It's been a couple of decades and more since we had such freedom of action; a startling novelty.

We chose to dine at the Royal Bengal Restaurant in Earlsdon, whose efficient and cheerful service and delightful food exactly hit the spot. (I'd love to get a voucher for a free meal as a result of this post, but somehow I don't think that is going to happen.) We then had an hour to spare before the film, so we wandered through Coventry city centre - before then we'd never been in Coventry on a Friday night - and strolled over to the café at the Belgrade Theatre. That's quite the watering hole to visit in Coventry, or so we discovered; just the place to run into friends going to this play or that. Now we know our next choice of a place to go to when the next free Friday evening turns up.

And then it was time for the main event: Made in Dagenham at the Odeon Skydome. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but I was very impressed; I enjoyed the photography, the subtle acting, and the passion for fair treatment of all workers. Sly digs on the way at the marxist cant of the male trade unionists (but there's more than one kind of obnoxious cant, as any Anglican can testify from sad experience); good portrayal of a trophy wife whose History First from Cambridge is ignored by her rich husband; and especially a fine scene when the heroine speaks at the TUC congress ("When did we stop fighting?" - strong resonances with today's problems). But best of all is the depiction of real effective and enabling leadership displayed by the heroine; the kind of leadership that works with people instead of dominating them.

Highly recommended.

Of course, brought up in a large family of two brothers and four sisters, I'm not sure I've ever been really able to convince myself that women can't be as effective and powerful as men. So the film did not have to work to persuade me of the justice of the cause. And now, after years working in an academic department with a strong complement of highly impressive women, and two decades as a worshipper in a church where women routinely serve in all kinds of leadership rôles to great effect and with charisma, without ever compromising their femininity, it's hard to imagine why any rational man might want to shut out or restrain the other half of the population. Of course men and women tend to take different approaches, though I suspect many of these differences arise from social conditioning and the demands of societal rôles. But there is so much to be gained by allowing the two approaches to challenge and refine each other.

So there is no need to tell you where I stand on the issue of women bishops, is there?