Fancy title for a little post, huh? The other day I was watching “9 to 5” for the 400th time and I am beginning to think that it may be responsible for the surge of female empowerment in women of my generation and my own feminist leanings, that began to show themselves at a relatively young age. I know I was about 8 years old, at the very most the first time I saw it. Yeah, they committed kidnapping and forgery and all kinds of felonies, but in the end, this was an early 80s movie in which the male presence was minimal and the women were the “superheroes”. From early on, the girls of Generation X saw male dominated society as something we could absolutely overcome, whether it be overt, as in the imprisonment of Mr. Hart- probably not the best approach, or under the radar, the way they handled the Chairman of the Board by disguising their changes in a package that he could accept and ultimately get just what they wanted- again, flawed, but successful.
Let’s see. In two hours it covers slut shaming, sexual harassment, equal pay and opportunity in the workplace, the transition into the workforce, single motherhood and finding your own way after a divorce. It praised standing up for yourself and knowing your worth. Women who finally stopped judging each other teamed up to create a more efficient and mentally healthy workplace were our protagonists. And then there is the cast… Dolly, Lily and Jane portray the ultimate three musketeers for justice through strong comedic performances. Doralee, Violet and Judy fit three female stereotypes- the sexy secretary, the jaded “man-hater” and the clueless housewife, but we see them evolve into three dimensional, flawed but capable women with good intentions. We even see some of their home lives as the new divorcee, the happily married woman, and the persevering single mother.
Little Katie Lynn didn’t know all the lessons she was learning (including to be very aware of artificial sweetener packaging) but she did know that she wanted to be like those ladies- ready for a challenge. The only woman I actually knew that worked in an office was my Aunt Roma and I thought she was the most incredible lady ever so the image of the capable career woman was never anything but positive in my mind. So thanks to Showtime and some boring Saturday afternoons for the self-confidence and thanks to Mom for ignoring the scene where they got stoned, cause she knew there was mostly good influence in there.
