9to5: The Story of a Movement

Julia Reichert and Steven Bognar (2020, U.S., 89 min. + post-film discussion)

“Working 9 to 5, what a way to make a living!” Dolly Parton’s bright lyrics from the film 9 to 5 became an anthem to the challenges of women’s work and lack of equality in the workplace. But even as the song and film are well-known cultural phenomena, the actual 9to5 movement that inspired it is not. In the 1970s, a group of Boston women started a movement to demand pay equity, an end to sexual harassment, and a breaking of the glass ceiling. Five decades later, the work of the movement remains far from finished, but the real advances many women workers have achieved started right there in Boston. With their trademark incisiveness and care, Oscar-winning documentary filmmakers Julia Reichert and Steven Bognar train their lens on telling this forgotten story, revitalizing the conversation about women workers in struggle everywhere.

(Screening was followed by a post-film discussion with the Oscar-winning filmmakers; Kim Cook, a leader of the Seattle 9to5 chapter; and Mary Bellman, director of Penn State’s LABOR School)