Before the hit song and Hollywood movie, “9to5” was an inspiring grassroots movement for equality that fused the spirit of the women’s and labor movements of the 1970’s.
Before the hit song and Hollywood movie, “9to5” was an inspiring grassroots movement for equality that fused the spirit of the women’s and labor movements of the 1970’s. A new documentary,9to5: The Story of a Movement, from filmmakers Julia Reichert and Steven Bognar, chronicles the waves of secretaries, starting in Boston, who in the 1970’s and 1980’s fought to create change in their workplaces. Their ideas spread rapidly, eventually leading to a nationwide movement that intersected the women’s and labor movements, and changed the American workforce forever. The documentary will premiere on PBS’s Independent Lens on February 1 and also will be available to stream on the PBS video app. In the 1970’s, secretaries and clerical workers made up the largest sector of the American workforce, with over 20 million employed. Inspired by the growing women’s liberation movement, secretaries Ellen Cassedy and Karen Nussbaum got mad, got organized and started a group in Boston called “9to5.
