9to5: The Story of a Movement. 2019. USA. Directed by Julia Reichert and Steven Bognar. DCP. 89 min.
Most have heard the song “Nine to Five,” sung by the great Dolly Parton, or seen 1980’s blockbuster movie 9 to 5 starring Parton, Lily Tomlin, and Jane Fonda. Yet few realize that these two icons of popular culture actually grew out of a social movement that spanned over twenty-five years, which sought to have a profound impact on work for women and the labor movement itself. In the early 1970s, a group of women office workers in Boston decided that they had suffered in silence long enough and created an organization to force changes in their workplaces. Largely unknown today, the movement was a unique convergence of those fighting for both women’s and labor rights. Still relevant issues such as sexual harassment, equal pay for equal work, the Family and Medical Leave Act, and the “glass ceiling” were, in many cases, first brought to the national stage by those behind the 9to5 movement.