Dolly Parton passed away last week. She’s remembered as a legendary singer-songwriter, country superstar, LGBQT icon and champion for kids literacy, but she was also very important in telling the stories of working class women. In the comedy 9 to 5, with Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin, Dolly centered women working in offices (often treated as objects and second class citizens) into subversive underdogs. The part that few people know is that movie was inspired by a real life movement of women workers who challenged these power dynamics in the corporate offices.
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In a special Labor Day episode, we talk with Karen Nussbaum, co-founder of the labor-feminist organization 9to5, which inspired the movie and song by Dolly Parton, about the movement to organize clerical workers.
Guest Bio// Karen Nussbaum was a cofounder of the pioneering labor-feminist organization 9to5. She is a member of the board of Working America which has 3.5 million members. She writes on women, labor, politics and culture.
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