The viewers at a women-filled American cinema house during the premiere of ‘9 to 5‘ in 1980 were perhaps unaware of the cultural phenomenon they were about to witness unfolding before their eyes. The film was nothing they might have expected — a rare blend of comedy and groundbreaking activism by the gender considered insignificant at the time. The iconic comedy soon broke records and ranked the second highest-grossing film of 1980 in the US despite its bold narrative.
‘9 to 5‘ tells the story of three female office workers who took matters into their own quirky yet powerful hands after facing workplace inequality. While the movie remains as relevant as ever even four decades later, many are unaware that it drew inspiration from a commendable real-life movement. Here’s the story of three extraordinary women who paved the way for a tough fight against workplace inequality and changed things for thousands of women for the better.
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It All Started With A Simple Question
Karen Nussbaum, one of the activists who laid the groundwork for ‘9 to 5‘, recalled her favorite scene from the film as she reminisced about olden days during a 2020 interview with BBC. As Violet, Doralee, and Judy — the three main characters in the film — were drowning their workplace woes in alcohol at a co*cktail bar, Judy’s question sparked a realization: “Couldn’t we just all get together and complain?”
“Complain to whom?” came the next, extremely relevant question. And that is when the idea of taking matters into one’s own hands germinated. Nussbaum, who was one of the three women having this conversation in real life, was working as a typist and an office clerk in Boston at the time, in the 1970s.
About four decades later, she opened up about how she felt seeing the same conversation on the screen, knowing it was the foundation of a groundbreaking movement that changed the face of work culture for women. “It captures how restrained people’s imagination is. We can do more than complain – that’s why you need to battle,” she said during the interview.
Women in America were employed in the 1970s, but they still had a long way to go to get the recognition they deserved. Repetitive tasks, dismal pay, and downright inhuman behavior from their predominantly male bosses defined the reality for almost all working women. “Secretaries were like the wallpaper,” Nussbaum recalled, “hardly existing to most people.”
But when life gave Nussbaum lemons, she made lemonade out of it and distributed it to thousands of women like herself. Because of her banal work, she could focus on her real passion, activism. And so she decided to change things on her own. With her university friend Ellen Cassedy, she started discussions among women about their workplace problems.
The duo founded a newsletter called ‘9to5’ and started distributing it at bus stops. “It was a way to say to thousands of women: ‘Talk to us, is this happening to you? Well, you’re not alone,'” Nussbaum told the BBC. The responses they got were more than baffling.
Several kinds of issues came forward, right from something as serious as lack of maternity benefits, to something as amusing as bosses not remembering the names of their female employees. The responses they got cemented the basis of the journey that followed.
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Who’s The Worst Boss? Man With A 14-Carrots Diet Plan Or Another With A Torn Crotch Patch?
As the movement gained some recognition, 9to5 started conducting public meetings, with a tiny office at the Boston YWCA. While many women were scared to be associated with the movement out of fear of their bosses finding out, ‘9to5’ took a bold, light-hearted approach, and made humor and ridicule their secret weapons.
In an amusing move, the women set up a worst boss of the year competition. “We put out the call for people to nominate the worst boss of the year, and we got hundreds of responses. There were unbelievable things – one boss asked the secretary to take his urine sample to the lab, one boss asked the secretary to type his daughter’s term paper,” Ellen Cassedy recalled.
Among other notable entries that made it to the submissions included a “14-carrot boss” who would ask his secretary to peel 14 carrots for him first thing in the morning so he could keep up with his diet plan. But the winner was this one man who asked his secretary to sew the crotch of his trousers while he was still wearing them.
As the submissions flooded in, these activist women found humiliation to be their strongest weapon. “We always believed it was important to have fun – and to use the strength of humiliating an employer the way they often humiliated workers,” Nussbaum said. “We wanted to turn the table on employers.”
Soon enough, 9to5 started organizing protests to get workplace injustices in the public eye. One notable incident that sparked protests was when a woman got fired for buying her boss the wrong sandwich. 9 to 5 also empowered committees of working women nationwide to leverage their talents through public speaking and report writing. A few years down the line, it was a globally recognized movement with women from all walks of life joining in.
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When ‘9 To 5’ Shattered The Glass Ceiling And Completely Changed The Debate In America
9to5 had been working actively for about 8 years when actress Jane Fonda brought scriptwriters to a meeting in Cleveland. With about 40 women in presence, Fonda asked a baffling question: “Do any of you fantasize about killing your boss?” The answers that came were equally intense, with women sharing gruesome ideas like poisoning their bosses with rat poison or grinding them up in a coffee grinder. These vivid narrations of anger and frustration inspired the film’s storyline greatly later.
While 9to5 happily agreed to get a film made on their story, they were not so sure about how successfully Hollywood would be able to portray their message. Ellen Cassedy recalled being very concerned about the possible inaccuracies and misrepresentations, and how it may impact their movement’s image.
However, they realized they did not need to worry on the very night of the premiere. The film had accurately conveyed the gist of their movement, and the audiences were strongly resonating with it. As the opening credits of ‘9 to 5‘ rolled, audiences erupted in laughter and recognition. It gained such heavy unexpected success that the 9to5 movement was caught off guard.
“We didn’t know that 9 to 5 was going to be a box office smash, we didn’t know it was going to become an iconic movie that was probably the most successful political movie ever made,” Nussbaum said. But the film’s success at the box office was not all the film achieved. It smashed the patriarchy with a magnificent force strong enough to cause a cultural shift that still reverberates.
The film caused a shift in the public consciousness, and people started recognizing workplace discrimination as an issue. “It just completely changed the debate in the country,” Nussbaum said. “Women walked into the movie theatre without a political agenda. And you walk out of the movie theatre and you think: ‘That’s outrageous.’ You’re no longer questioning whether there’s such a thing as discrimination. You’re past that, and you’re ready for solutions,” she added.
While the film is still considered one of the strongest political pieces of filmmaking, the story it drew inspiration from is coming back to the screen in a new avatar. Actress Jennifer Aniston is bringing new life to ‘9 to 5‘, as she is set to produce the project. It will be developed under her Echo Films banner, and Oscar-winning writer Diablo Cody will pen the script.
While there’s still a long way for women to establish complete equality even in the 21st century, ‘9 to 5‘ was quite ahead of its time and left a lasting impact on not just the film industry, but the sociopolitical situation in the entire country. It’s no surprise that it is coming back, given the need of the hour.
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