9to5

The group has its origins in the December 1972 publication of “9to5: Newsletter for Boston Area Office Workers." The goal of the newsletter was to reach all clerical workers, not just women. About a year later, the newsletter's publishers announced the formation of Boston 9to5, a grassroots collective for women office workers that addressed issues such as low pay, lack of opportunities for advancement, sexual harassment in the workplace, and overall respect for them.{{Cite book |last=Windham |first=Lane |title=Knocking on Labor's Door: Union Organizing in the 1970s and the Roots of a New Economic Divide |year=2017 |isbn=9781450480406 |pages=152–176|publisher=Human Kinetics }}

Before the development of the movement, there had already been some laws passed to eliminate sex-based discrimination in the workplace. These laws being the Equal Pay Act of 1963 and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.{{Cite journal |last=Elias |first=Allison L. |date=April 2018 |title="Outside the Pyramid": Clerical Work, Corporate Affirmative Action, and Working Women's Barriers to Upward Mobility |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-policy-history/article/abs/outside-the-pyramid-clerical-work-corporate-affirmative-action-and-working-womens-barriers-to-upward-mobility/908D41ACA97FFAEDB94E18066C75CBA8 |journal=Journal of Policy History |language=en |volume=30 |issue=2 |pages=301–333 |doi=10.1017/S0898030618000106 |issn=0898-0306|url-access=subscription }} For example, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 created the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) which prohibited discrimination in the workplace based on sex or sexual orientation. Additionally, it allowed for women to develop complaints and eventually attempt to sue their employers if they were to feel as though they were being discriminated against.{{Cite journal |last=Robinson |first=Donald Allen |date=1979 |title=Two Movements in Pursuit of Equal Employment Opportunity |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3173391 |journal=Signs |volume=4 |issue=3 |pages=413–433 |doi=10.1086/493628 |jstor=3173391 |issn=0097-9740|url-access=subscription }} Despite this, women in the workplace still felt underrepresented and under appreciated.

Women who joined the 9to5 movement started as women who were first hand witnesses of the misogyny and mistreatment of women in the workplace. Secretaries like Fran Cicchetti, a Boston insurance secretary, were made false promises by their bosses leading them to expect training for new tasks in their jobs and possible promotions. When Cicchetti asked her boss about the promise he had made, her boss promoted a male to the new title. This brought new ideas that women should not get treated like this in the workplace and Cicchetti became an activist. As one of the earliest 9to5 activists, she helped join forces with other women fighting the same issues and created the “organization for women office workers.” Eventually this turned into the 9to5 movement where Fran became the head of the finance committee and lobbied with the insurance commissioner to create new standards on job postings and promotions.

The national organization has buildings in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and Atlanta, Georgia, as well as appearing in states including Colorado and California. The organization had as many as 12,000 members.{{Cite journal |last=Cameron |first=Cindia |date=1986-04-01 |title=Noon at 9 to 5: Reflections on a Decade of Organizing |url=https://ecommons.cornell.edu/handle/1813/102478 |journal=Labor Research Review |language=en-US |volume=1 |issue=8}}

The terms "office wife" and "office maid" were also very common within the work place. Both of these terms made women feel disrespected and blurred the line between professional and inappropriate relationships of boss and secretary.{{Cite journal |last=Cobble |first=Dorothy Sue |date=1999 |title="A Spontaneous Loss of Enthusiasm": Workplace Feminism and the Transformation of Women's Service Jobs in the 1970s |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/27672594 |journal=International Labor and Working-Class History |volume=56 |issue=56 |pages=23–44 |doi=10.1017/S0147547999002823 |doi-broken-date=June 9, 2025 |jstor=27672594 |issn=0147-5479|url-access=subscription }}

Women that were members of the 9to5 movement gathered together in meetings to discuss their goals as part of the organization and movement. Between two meetings, the group had several women leave because they did not believe their needs were going to get met through this bill they were writing to get passed. During these meetings, women worked together to write the Bill of Rights for Women office workers. African American women wanted a priority set to provide childcare for their children during the workday. Founders of the 9to5 movement chose not to include this in their list of conditions for women in the workplace because they did not believe they could win childcare. In April 1974, hundreds of women witnessed the group stand and testify at the "Hearing on the Working Conditions of Women Office Workers" in Boston. This Bill was then signed and brought women and workers rights for descriptive, written job descriptions, salary reviews, and respect in the office. This also required the equal benefits between men and women. Eventually this win would bring more fight for higher and equal pay and wages.

One of the organization's earliest victories included a class-action suit filed against several Boston publishing companies that awarded the female plaintiffs $1.5 million in back pay. In 1975, the founders of 9to5 joined with the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and formed Local 925 of the SEIU in Boston in order to help office workers gain access to collective bargaining rights.

The 9to5 movement was instrumental in addressing the grievances of women and their relationships with their male counterparts in the workplace. National Secretaries Day was a topic brought up in their movement because it was a day for male bosses to take their female secretaries out for the day. The women would be given roses by their bosses as well as a meal. The male interpretation of this day was that bosses were adequately recognizing their secretaries. On the contrary, female secretaries felt as though they were treated adequately for one day, but the rest of their working hours consisted of unfair and inappropriate boss and secretary relationships. The members of 9to5 eventually coined phrases such as "raises not roses" in order to combat National Secretaries Day and create a call to action.

In 1977, 9to5 Boston merged with Cleveland Women Working (est. 1975 primarily by Helen Williams) to create the Cleveland-based Working Women Organizing Project. Based in Cleveland from 1977-1993, the national organization was a coalition of like-minded associations and was headed by Karen Nussbaum, one of Boston 9to5's founders.{{Cite web|last=Fauxsmith|first=Jennifer|title=Research Guides: 9 to 5, National Association of Working Women (U.S.): Home|url=https://guides.library.harvard.edu/schlesinger_9to5/schlesinger_9to5_introduction|access-date=2021-01-20|website=guides.library.harvard.edu|language=en}}{{Cite web|date=2019-05-31|title=9to5, National Assn. of Working Women|url=https://case.edu/ech/articles/n/9to5-national-assn-working-women|access-date=2021-01-20|website=Encyclopedia of Cleveland History {{!}} Case Western Reserve University|language=en}} Nussbaum was the executive director of 9to5 while also being the president of Local 925 until 1993.{{Cite book |last=Nutter |first=Kathleen Banks |title=The Oxford Encyclopedia of American Business, Labor, and Economic History |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2013 |isbn=9780199739189 |editor-last=Dubofsky |editor-first=Melvyn |chapter=Nussbaum, Karen |doi=10.1093/acref/9780199738816.001.0001 |chapter-url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/acref/9780199738816.001.0001/acref-9780199738816-e-376}} Nussbaum's involvement in the organization began with her friend Ellen Cassedy, whom she met at Harvard University, while they were working as secretaries. Together, they founded the Boston 9to5 after several years of recruitment and the formation of smaller like-minded groups.{{Cite web |title=Ellen Cassedy, Karen Nussbaum, & Debbie Schneider; Transcript (1 Pdf), Nov. 1, 2005 {{!}} ArchivesSpace@Wayne |url=https://archives.wayne.edu/repositories/2/archival_objects/784401 |access-date=2023-05-05 |website=archives.wayne.edu}}

File:Karen Nussbaum 01.jpg

Cassedy held the role of recruiting, organizing, and contacting potential members, as well as handling relations with bosses and CEOs of other organizations. She trained at the Midwest Academy serving as a scout to learn the basics of union organization.{{Cite web |title=Ellen Cassedy, Karen Nussbaum, & Debbie Schneider; Transcript (1 Pdf), Nov. 1, 2005 {{!}} ArchivesSpace@Wayne |url=https://archives.wayne.edu/repositories/2/archival_objects/784401 |access-date=2023-05-05 |website=archives.wayne.edu}} While working for 9to5, Cassedy advocated that "9to5 attempted to challenge 'what was in the culture--that office work wasn't really work, office workers were not true workers, [and] women's work was not that important.'"{{Cite journal |last=Elias |first=Allison L. |date=2018 |title="Outside the Pyramid": Clerical Work, Corporate Affirmative Action, and Working Women's Barriers to Upward Mobility |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-policy-history/article/abs/outside-the-pyramid-clerical-work-corporate-affirmative-action-and-working-womens-barriers-to-upward-mobility/908D41ACA97FFAEDB94E18066C75CBA8 |journal=Journal of Policy History |language=en |volume=30 |issue=2 |pages=301–333 |doi=10.1017/S0898030618000106 |issn=0898-0306 |via=ProQuest|url-access=subscription }}

Debbie Schneider worked for the women's organization of office workers in New York City and eventually joined 9to5 in Cincinnati, Ohio. Before either of those placements, though, she was oringinally denied access to the group right off the bat. She kept trying, went to the recruitment lunches, and eventually gained her status in the movement.{{Cite journal |last=Elias |first=Allison |date=2013 |title=Standardizing Sex Discrimination: Clerical Workers, Labor Organizing, and Feminism |journal=University of Virginia}} While a part of the organization, she was in charge of organizing university clericals.{{Cite web |title=Ellen Cassedy, Karen Nussbaum, & Debbie Schneider; Transcript (1 Pdf), Nov. 1, 2005 {{!}} ArchivesSpace@Wayne |url=https://archives.wayne.edu/repositories/2/archival_objects/784401 |access-date=2023-05-05 |website=archives.wayne.edu}}

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The group was later known as the National Association of Working Women. Members of this group met with Jane Fonda and served as an inspiration for the smash-hit comedy, 9 to 5,{{cite news |last1=Dargis |first1=Manohla |last2=Scott |first2=A. O. |title=Punching the Clock (and the Boss) With Dolly, Lily and Jane |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/16/movies/nine-to-five-viewers.html |work=The New York Times |date=17 June 2020 }} featuring Fonda, Dolly Parton, and Dabney Coleman, among others. The film focuses on clerical working women, their experiences at work, and the overall activism of the 9 to 5 women during the 1970s, and the unionizing of the 1980s.{{cite journal |last1=Nhi Do |first1=Scarlette |title=Review of 9to5: Story of a Movement |journal=Australasian Journal of American Studies |date=2020 |volume=39 |issue=1 |pages=252–257 |jstor=26973013 }}

Julia Reichert and Steven Bognar filmed a documentary about the 9to5 movement that was released in 2021.{{cite news |last1=Cohn |first1=Gabe |title=What's on TV This Week: '9to5: The Story of a Movement' and 'The Equalizer' |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/01/arts/television/whats-on-tv-this-week-9to5-the-equalizer.html |work=The New York Times |date=1 February 2021 }}{{Cite web |title=9to5: The Story of a Movement {{!}} The Real Women Who Inspired the Song |url=https://www.pbs.org/independentlens/documentaries/9to5-the-story-of-a-movement/ |access-date=2023-05-13 |website=Independent Lens |language=en-US}}

The members of the 9to5 Movement often used unorthodox tactics to carry out their efforts. Along with lawsuits and petitions, public relations efforts were some of the most influential aspects of the entire movement. There were demands for an office "Bill of Rights" when attention was heavily focused on the National Secretaries Day debate. Additionally, members of the 9to5 Movement also conducted "worst boss contests." The contests told stories of secretaries who were mistreated by their bosses in an unprofessional manner. Karen Nussbaum used these "worst boss contests" to spread stories of secretaries who were fired due to boss outbursts rather than work ethic complications.

Between Nussbaum and Cassedy developing the idea of creating a labor organization group was not the goal. Originally, they set out to help stand with women in social struggles and antiwar movements. When they ran low on money while helping fight these struggles, they got jobs as secretaries and saw first hand the mistreatment of women, bringing this new idea of a labor organization to Harvard, forming the Women Office Workers at Harvard.

The 9to5 Movement eventually joined its sister movement called Local 925. Local 925 was established in Boston in 1975, in order to create a way for women to obtain insurance and banking. Local 925 would mostly include clerical workers since they were targeted by District 65. Together, they worked to eliminate discriminatory pay and promote unionization.

Sexual harassment was first coined by a radical feminist activist Lin Farley after she encountered and learned about the Carmita Woods case. Woods was a female administrative assistant at Cornell’s Laboratory of Nuclear Studies where she was constantly sexually harassed by her superior. One example included her supervisor putting his hands on Woods's bottom at an office party. With this, Farley was able to come to a conclusion that sexual harassment was present within her workplace.{{cite book |last1=Baker |first1=Carrie N. |title=The Women's Movement against Sexual Harassment |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-521-87935-4 |pages=82–108 |chapter=Expansion of the Movement against Sexual Harassment in the Late 1970s |doi=10.1017/9780511840067.006}}

The 9to5 movement also focused on sexual harassment within a workplace. Women were usually the ones experiencing sexual harassment during their work experience. Sex was seen as a sense of power over another woman.{{Cite web |last=Solomon |first=Charles |date=1992-07-12 |title=The 9 to 5 Guide to Combatting... |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-07-12-bk-3935-story.html |access-date=2023-05-06 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}} Sexual harassment was divided into two categories: hostile work environment and quid pro quo. A hostile work environment is when an employee is harassed by either a co-worker, a non-worker, or a boss over a period of time{{cite journal |date=November 1993 |title=The sexual-harassment debates - Sexual Harassment: Women Sp |journal=The Progressive |location=Madison |volume=57 |issue=11 |pages=37 |id={{ProQuest|231936437}}}} while Quid pro quo is when a supervisor demands sexual pleasure after an employee in exchange for a better job position/benefits.{{Cite journal |last=Quinn |first=Beth A. |date=2002 |title=Sexual Harassment and Masculinity The power and Meaning of 'Girl Watching' |journal=Gender and Society |volume=16 |issue=3 |pages=386–402 |doi=10.1177/0891243202016003007 |s2cid=145230013}}

In the early history of America, women only had legal and social power through their family and if married through their husbands, meaning that as individuals they had no legal say in their social relationship to others.{{cite journal |last1=Bloch |first1=Ruth H. |date=2007 |title=The American Revolution, Wife Beating, and the Emergent Value of Privacy |journal=Early American Studies |volume=5 |issue=2 |pages=223–251 |doi=10.1353/eam.2007.0008 |jstor=23546609 |s2cid=144371791}} Both parties (Republicans and Democrats) voted and included the amendment to prohibit sex discrimination in the workplace in the Title VII of the Civil Rights Act during the Civil Rights Movement in 1964.{{Cite book |last=Baker |first=Carrie N. |title=The Women's Movement against Sexual Harassment |date=2007 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-87935-4 |location=Cambridge |doi=10.1017/9780511840067}}{{pn|date=May 2023}} In 1978, the first marital rape case was presented in court, the Oregon v. Rideout trial.{{Cite journal |last1=Coulter |first1=Kristine |last2=Meyer |first2=David S. |date=2015 |title=High profile rape trials and policy advocacy |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0143814X1400018X/type/journal_article |journal=Journal of Public Policy |language=en |volume=35 |issue=1 |pages=35–61 |doi=10.1017/S0143814X1400018X |issn=0143-814X|url-access=subscription }} Before then, marital rape was not considered a legal case because the previous legal understanding was that after marriage, the woman had forfeited herself to her husband that she was not able to take it back.{{Cite web |title=Spousal Rape Laws: 20 Years Later |url=http://www.ncdsv.org/images/NCVC_SpousalRapeLaws20YearsLater_2004.pdf |access-date=May 8, 2023}}

The 9to5 movement realized that sexual harassment revolved around the unlimited power posed by satisfaction. {{cite news |last1=Swenson |first1=Kyle |date=22 November 2017 |title=Who came up with the term 'sexual harassment'? |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2017/11/22/who-came-up-with-the-term-sexual-harassment/ |newspaper=Washington Post}} Ellan Bravo, one of the authors of The 9to5 Guide to Combating Sexual Harassment, led a sexual harassment experiment with different corporations. One of the exercises she employed was doing role reversal, the men would play the role of female workers and Bravo would play the role of the male boss.{{cite news |last1=Hoffman |first1=Jan |date=1 November 1992 |title=THE NATION; Pull Up a Chair, Boys. Can You Take Dictation? |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/11/01/weekinreview/the-nation-pull-up-a-chair-boys-can-you-take-dictation.html |work=The New York Times |id={{ProQuest|428789969}}}} Through this exercise, Bravo would show that the men knew they were making their female coworkers uncomfortable and were simply exercising their power.

The active years of the 9to5 organization have come and gone. However, in 2021, a documentary was released that told the story of the women within the 9to5 movement, their struggles, how they gained support, and their tactics in victory.(2021, February 1). 9to5: The Story of A Movement ‌ The women at the heart of the movement, like Karen Nussbaum and Ellen Cassedy, were interviewed and asked about how the 9to5 movement changed the outlook of their careers, and looked into what they're doing in life now. The documentary, directed by Julia Reichert and Steven Bognar, highlights the power of music in change, and includes Dolly Parton's "9 to 5" song, which is directly related to the movement itself. It tells the story of the 9to5 movement, and how the original idea of a feminist movement quickly became one of an independent labor union with goals to reach and bosses to dethrone. Including interviews of the many faces involved in the movement, the documentary is a visual representation of the many thoughts, voices, and hearts behind the labor movement. Since its premiere, the documentary has helped highlight the pain of being involved in a women's movement, but also the glory of it, and has won "Best Women's Film" at the Key West Film Festival. {{Cite web |title=9to5: The Story of a Movement {{!}} The Real Women Who Inspired the Song |url=https://www.pbs.org/independentlens/documentaries/9to5-the-story-of-a-movement/ |access-date=2025-04-04 |website=Independent Lens |language=en-US}}

In the beginning, movement 9to5 were mostly a middle-class women, who were fighting more so for liberal rights than "feminist" rights. 9to5 was also very skeptical of joining male-dominated labor unions because most of the labor unions' leadership were men, who did not see a value in what 9to5 wants to fight for.

File:Leffler - WomensLib1970 WashingtonDC (cropped).jpg

Feminism in the 20th Century looked a little bit different compared to feminism in the 21st Century. Second wave feminism started to grow in the 1970s, where socialism, gender equality, and the nuclear family importance came in play.{{Cite journal |last=Zeitz |first=J. |date=2008 |title=Rejecting the Center: Radical Grassroots Politics in the 1970s — Second-Wave Feminism as a Case Study |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40543229 |journal=Journal of Contemporary History |volume=43 |issue=4 |pages=673–688 |doi=10.1177/0022009408095422 |jstor=40543229 |issn=0022-0094}} Women during 1970s wanted to be a part of the women's movement while joining 9to5, but they opposed to have a label of being "a feminist." Some women wanted to have equal job opportunities, but they did not consider themselves as feminists since they did not agree with all the values feminism stands for (even though America was in the middle of the second-wave feminist movement). Some Black women also did not consider themselves as feminists; their claim is that they have been fighting for equal rights their entire life and so they did not see a reason why they should accept a new label. On the other hand, 9to5 organizers did consider themselves as feminists since they were fighting not only for equal jobs for white women, but for single mothers, black women, or disabled people. However, women were still talking loudly for their rights even without a feminist label.{{Cite book |last=Cassedy |first=Ellen |title=Working 9 to 5: A Women's Movement, a Labor Union, and the Iconic Movie |publisher=Chicago Review Press Incorporated |year=2022 |isbn=978-1-64160-824-4 |location=Chicago}}

Even though 9to5 was focused on racial injustice, in the beginning 9to5 organizers were more focused on the "equal opportunities" for both genders, but were not focused as much on women of color or poor working class. {{Cite journal |last=Do |first=Scarlette Nhi |date=2020 |title=Review of 9to5: Story of a Movement |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/26973013 |journal=Australasian Journal of American Studies |volume=39 |issue=1 |pages=252–257 |jstor=26973013 |issn=1838-9554}} When 9to5 movement started to be more popular around the United States, 9to5 organizations in different cities started to pair Black and white organizers together for better leadership and closer point of view.{{Cite journal |last=Swinth |first=Kirsten |date=2023 |title=he Rise of Corporate Feminism: Women in the American Office, 1960–1990. |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/2908917544 |journal=ProQuest |volume=97 |issue=3 |pages=667–670|id={{ProQuest|2908917544}} }} In 1980s, 9to5 uncovered that Black women worked in low-paid office jobs in Cleveland, Ohio. 9to5 then helped to build racially diverse organizations, which helped Black women overcome the White despite at many organizations and 9to5 started to gain national wide attention.

In 1981, the National Association of Working Women formed a national-level partnership with SEIU and formed SEIU District 925, a nationwide labor union for office workers. After several name changes, the organization adopted its current name in 1983, and "9to5, National Association of Working Women" evolved into the largest membership organization of working women in the United States. During the 1980s and 1990s, 9to5 focused on issues such as the effects of automation, pay inequities, medical leave, and racial and sexual harassment and discrimination.

The organization effectively used the media and lobbied legislators as part of a campaign to warn the public of the health dangers of video display terminals (also known as VDTs). Additionally, they have also used the media to draw attention to several sexual harassment cases in the 1990s.

In 1987, 9to5 had a big influence on the Job Retention Project, where this project helped to mentor employees in the office {{citation needed|date=April 2025}}. Other major organizations, such as Job Retention Project, provided educational resources about employees' struggles such as The Job/Family Challenge: A 9to5 Guide (1995) by Ellen Bravo.{{Cite journal |last=Eickert |first=Carol |date=2000 |title=ELLEN BRAVO ADDRESSES the Job/Family Challenge |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23272337 |journal=Perspectives on Work |volume=4 |issue=2 |pages=23–25 |jstor=23272337 |issn=1534-9276}}

Among other issues, 9to5 actively promotes workplace policies such as paid sick leave, equal pay, and an end to discrimination for hiring or firing based on gender or sexual orientation. 9to5 additionally staffs a Job Survival Helpline to give support to women facing difficulties or challenges in the workplace. Pay roll equality between men and women was not finalized by the end of the 20th Century. However, the 9to5 movement has challenged and partially changed working conditions for women and men. Sexual harassment has decreased and work equality increased in the work places all over the United States.

• Women's rights

{{Reflist}}

• {{Cite book |last=Cassedy |first=Ellen |title=Working 9 to 5: A Women's Movement, a Labor Union, and the Iconic Movie |date=2022-09-06 |publisher=Chicago Review Press |language=English}}

• {{Official|http://www.9to5.org/}}
• [http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:RAD.SCHL:sch00410 9to5, National Association of Working Women (U.S.) Records.] [http://www.radcliffe.edu/schles Schlesinger Library] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120509153246/http://www.radcliffe.edu/schles |date=2012-05-09 }}, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University.
• [http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:RAD.SCHL:sch01314 9to5, National Association of Working Women (U.S.). Milwaukee Chapter Records.] [http://www.radcliffe.edu/schles Schlesinger Library] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120509153246/http://www.radcliffe.edu/schles |date=2012-05-09 }}, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University.

Category:Organizations established in 1973

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Category:Organizations based in Milwaukee

Category:Labor in the United States

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