I had never heard of this movement before so watching this documentary was really eye-opening and it’s still such a shame that women have so much further to go to get equality in the workplace.

9to5 was a movement when women who had started working in corporate workplaces wanted more rights and better benefits that they were not being given simply because they were women.

In this time men still ruled the world, and while women were getting more rights in terms of being able to work and not just being childbearing handmaidens, we still had a long way to go with a lot of areas, including equal pay, harassment in the workplace, and benefits including childcare.

Watching these women talk about their experiences was so motivational and inspirational because they went through so much. We owe so much of what we have in our lives and the independence that we have due to these women and what they stood for, and if they hadn’t done that then who knows what the world would be like in the present day. Like I said, we still have a long way to go in terms of equality and being treated the same as anyone else, regardless of race or gender, but these women really helped put the paving stones down to get us to this point.

I think it’s quite disgusting how normalised harassment in the workplace is and how we always have to come to expect it. You could never say to your boss that they were harassing you or belittling you because they’re the ones in charge of you and if they don’t like what you’re saying they can easily get rid of you, and then it’s up to a court of law to determine whether it was a reasonable dismissal or not, and then at that point it’s your word against theirs.

I have dealt with workplaces where I have not felt equal to the men around me. I have had to deal with unequal pay and standing up for myself and dealing with issues that should not even be affecting me. I am constantly reminded that if I was a man these issues wouldn’t be a problem for me and I would be able to have these promotions etc. that I’ve been sidelined for. If I was a man and spoke my opinion I wouldn’t be belittled like I am now but instead praised for fighting for change.

This is a fantastic documentary to look at and see how far we have come and how far we still have to go. I think these women really show you that if you put your mind to something and you really are passionate about something you can make a change and you can do something good, to better everyone’s lives not just your own. I feel people can get a bit complacent and stagnant and don’t always fight for the little man, when really that’s exactly what we should do. It can be hard and it can be scary but at the end of the day if you don’t make any changes then no changes are going to happen for you. Where you are is always where you’re going to be and just try to imagine a world where these women didn’t do anything. What would that look like?

Give this documentary a go if you want to see how much time has changed in such a few decades and think to yourself “what can I do to better my own and other people’s situations to be even greater than yesteryear”. Gender inequality is still such a prominent issue in modern society that if we don’t stand up for ourselves it’s very unlikely that others will do so for us either.

What do you think of 9to5?

Until next time.

Published by shonaharding

Media graduate with a passion for reviewing film and TV. View all posts by shonaharding