During my first semester of college, Dolly Parton made her movie debut in the comedy “9 to 5.” The movie’s title track became my anthem for adulting.
It was the winter of 1980, and I was in my first semester at the University of Maryland at College Park. The previous summer, I worked as an intern at the Baltimore Sun. The paper provided a four-year scholarship that included tuition, room and books, as well as paid internships at the Sun and its sister paper, the Evening Sun. If I did well at Maryland and in three more promised summer internships, a job would await me upon graduation.
I was so scared of failing.
My grandmother, Big Mama, told me that once I graduated, I would become responsible for my disabled brother, who was just three years younger than me. Mitchell suffered from debilitating seizures as a result of his epilepsy, which made it difficult for him to work. If I could make a career in journalism, my income would support us both. And I did it, covering many of his expenses, until he died at age 32 from a massive seizure.
Parton died on Aug. 25 at 80. I immediately thought about how she inspired me with lyrics that chronicled the travails of women who endured sexism and unequal pay in the workplace.
I didn’t realize until now that the inspiration for the song was 9to5, a Boston-based organization founded by clerical workers in 1973 to advocate for fair pay and working conditions for women in the workplace. Parton wrote the song after being introduced to the group’s mission by her co-star Jane Fonda.
“9to5 is deeply saddened by the loss of the legend, advocate, and ally Dolly Parton,” the organization wrote in a statement. “Inspired by the real stories and experiences of 9to5 members, she gifted us an anthem that has resonated for decades with working people and reminds us there is still so much work to be done. Through her music and her work in film, she helped bring national attention to the real issues that women continue to face in the workplace to this day: sexism, harassment, unequal pay, and how the wealthy exploit our labor.”
Adulting is hard enough — trying to figure out how to pay all your bills, save, maybe have enough left over to invest for retirement, and still have some fun. But when financial challenges are coupled with workplace inequity, every step forward comes with a reminder of this line from the song, “They let you dream just to watch ‘em shatter.”
I saw my struggle to make it, just like the clerical staff at the office she wrote about.
Parton sang, “There’s a better life, and you think about it, don’t you?”
I did.
I never take for granted what that scholarship meant for my family and me, but it came with a downside: doubts that I was equal to the White men who dominated the newsroom.
Although the minority scholarships opened a door for me, walking through it meant facing hostility on the job.
I overheard two White reporters disparaging the scholarship created to increase minority representation on the Baltimore Sun’s staff. The Baltimore papers had long been criticized for lacking reporters who looked like the communities they covered.
During one summer internship, an editor made my life miserable without even trying to hide her racism. She routinely passed me over, saving the best assignments for the White interns. Once, she took an idea I brought to her and gave it to a White male intern she favored. When he decided he didn’t want to do the story, she gave the assignment back to me.
Today, nearly half a century after Parton first released “9 to 5,” diversity, equity and inclusion programs are still characterized by critics as giving an unfair advantage to women and minorities who have been historically marginalized. But DEI was — and is — about taking corrective measures rather than providing unfair preferential treatment.
Even once I moved on to full-time jobs, I was underpaid when compared to colleagues with similar experience.
At times I felt that “it’s a rich man’s game no matter what they call it/ And you spend your life puttin’ money in his wallet 9 to 5.”
But Parton didn’t just reflect on our struggles; she spent a lifetime using her wealth and the stage to lighten them, whether through her song catalogue or funding programs like her Imagination Library, which mails free books to children.
She was a financial role model, refusing to give up publishing rights, referring to her songs like children who would take care of her in her old age. She built an empire on her own terms.
“But you’ve got dreams he’ll never take away/ In the same boat with a lot of your friends/ Waitin’ for the day your ship’ll come in/ And the tide’s gonna turn and it’s all gonna roll your way.”
This is why “9 to 5″ became my anthem for adulting and continued to inspire me for decades. Music can soothe your soul when it’s so easy to become discouraged. And Parton’s lyrics give you the resolve to keep fighting for what you’re worth, despite the adversity you face.
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