Happy International Women’s Day 2023!

by Jessica Gioia, EMT Secretary

8th March is celebrated as International Women’s Day – a day given to recognising women’s achievements and raising awareness of discrimination that still exists against women, even though laws exist to try and end discrimination based on protected characteristics such as gender.  

As I was reading up about the event and this year’s theme, it really brought home for me the timeliness with this year’s show, ‘9 to 5 – The Musical’, the fabulous women in it, their successes, and how things were in the workplace for women in the 70s and what there is still to achieve.  

The theme for this year’s International Women’s Day (IWD) is #EmbraceEquity.  This is promoting the concept that you cannot get to equality without equity.  This involves bringing disadvantaged people to the same level as advantaged people so that eventually everyone exists at the same starting point.  Think of it this way: If we go for a walk and you start 100m ahead of me but we walk at the same pace (equality of treatment), I will continue to remain 100m behind you.  Equity means giving me the tools or assistance I need to be in the same position as you. From this baseline, if we are treated equitably (the same), we should have largely the same outcomes if we have the same opportunities.

This site describes equity and equality really well. 

Equity vs. Equality: What’s the Difference? | Online Public Health (gwu.edu) 

This year’s IWD theme of #EmbraceEquity asks us to acknowledge that:  

• Equity isn’t just a nice-to-have, it’s a must have.
• A focus on gender equity needs to be a part of every society’s DNA.
• Forging gender equity is not limited to women solely fighting the good fight. Allies are incredibly important for the social, economic, cultural, and political advancement of women. 
• Everyone has a part to play – each one of us can actively support and embrace equity within our own sphere of influence.

 *Please note, the term ‘women’ used throughout refers to all individuals who identify as women regardless of their sex assigned at birth. This includes cisgender women or ciswoman (a person who was assigned female at birth and identifies as a woman), Transgender women or Trans woman (a person who was assigned male at birth and identifies as a woman), and non-binary women or non-binary woman (a person who identifies partly as a woman but may feel they do not completely fit into the category of woman). 

Note as well that EMT and this author acknowledge there are many minorities and groups of people who need and deserve to be lifted up, but in this article we’re focussing on women as this day is dedicated to them and resonates with our current production.

‘9 to 5 – The Musical’ – Warning: If you don’t know the show, there are spoilers below 

‘9 to 5’ is set at the end of the seventies when women were fighting hard to be seen as more equal to men.  In the UK in 1968, women in Ford’s Dagenham plant walked out to protest sexual discrimination and unequal pay. As machinists producing the cars’ upholstery, they argued that they were just as skilled as men on the other production lines. A decade later, in the ‘9 to 5’ world, women can still sometimes be seen as decoration or merely a support to men, as housewives to be taken for granted in the home or only fit for menial jobs in the office, as a target for men’s sexual advances whether casual or aggressive (my mum has told me some stories from this era!), and umpteen small ways in which they were demeaned and overlooked despite having the talents of the men.  

International Women’s Day exists to celebrate what women have achieved but, as we look back to the ladies’ struggles in ‘9 to 5’ although progress has been made in the 4 decades since, women are still on the receiving end of gender imbalance and microagressions, while their earning power is still less than that of men and they are discriminated against and lose out on jobs and promotions because they ‘might’ have children, or because they have had children and can lose jobs or miss promotions, or their earning power never returns to what it was beforehand, despite the laws to try and guard against this. 

The headings and much of the content below are lifted from information about #EmbraceEquity but as I read them it really shone a light on the show’s events and I kept thinking back to our production, and the progress still to be made even in these more enlightened times.  I’ve highlighted where I saw direct parallels in our show and added comments on how we see them play out before us.  Beware spoilers.  I have flagged where they appear. 

Microaggressions and stereotypes 

Microagressions existed in the workplace in the seventies which we can see happening in ‘9 to 5’ – some aren’t so micro! – and can still be experienced by women today.  Microaggressions often stem from unconscious bias and stereotypes.  

In the workplace, this can relate to traditional gender roles (spoilers below): 

• Women being asked to arrange team events or take minutes during meetings [While we don’t see these behaviours directly in the show, when our heroines triumph in the show, surprise is expressed at the revolution coming from “just secretaries”, although the character who says it is likely using it knowingly, referring to how others see them, while he doesn’t.]
•  Questioning women’s authority or skills to deliver a role [Bob being chosen for promotion over Violet because the boss believes that men who are the firm’s customers won’t accept sales and executive messages coming from a woman, and that’s just how it is.]
• Being overlooked for development and upward career opportunities [Again, at Bob’s promotion despite him being in the company for a shorter time than Violet, and in fact being trained by her because of her experience and talent, another reason given for his promotion is “Because he has a family”, as if only men can be bread winners. Violet, a single mother, angrily replies, “And I don’t?!”.]

IWD literature makes suggestions for fighting against these biases.  In the show we actually see some of these happen! They should be an inspiration to us all (more spoilers): 

•  Run or attend webinars for upskilling knowledge on bias, stereotypes and banter. 
•  Build a network of female role models and share the impact of their work [The women become the heart of the office and we see how their employee-focussed changes improve the workplace for everyone. They understand that a happy and supported workforce is a productive workforce.].
• Use case studies to demonstrate women in traditionally male roles [We see Violet actually achieve her dream role!].

 Sexual harassment 

As literature supporting IWD states, the 2022 Gender Equality in the Workplace report by Randstad, which surveyed 6,000 working adults found out that the majority (72 per cent) of women had either encountered or witnessed inappropriate behaviour from male colleagues at work, and that two-thirds (67 per cent) of women had experienced gender discrimination in some form.  

With regards to ‘9 to 5’ (spoilers!) again we see sexual harassment playing out here as the boss, Hart, who is obsessed with his PA Doralee, chases and throws himself on her.  She’s a strong woman who fights back, but for many reasons, women can’t or are unable to fight back, overpowered by strength or frozen by the horror of what’s happening to them.  

 Examples of sexual harassment cited in my reading include (spoilers!):  

• Unwanted or derogatory comments or nicknames about clothing or appearance. [In ‘9 to 5’ we learn that even the other office women are antagonistic towards Doralee because of how she appears – women are held to such standards that judgement and preconception based on looks and certain behaviours are ingrained even in our own gender and result in women turning against each other rather than lifting each other up.]
• Leering and suggestive gestures and remarks or jokes [Yup, we see this in ‘9 to 5’!]
• Sexual posts or contact on social media and sending sexually explicit emails/text messages 
• Predatory behaviour and coercion [The boss’s behaviour towards his PA]
• Physical contact such as the invasion of personal space and unnecessary touching, hugging, or kissing through to sexual assault, indecent exposure, stalking and rape. [Hart, again, although Doralee gets the better of him before he can go too far!]

As IWD support documentation states, “workplace factors that contribute to increased sexual harassment includes an organisational culture where sexism is seen to be tolerated, unclear routes to report incidents, and a lack of visible action taken to tackle reports of sexual harassment”.  Men can be allies to women by calling out unacceptable behaviour in their peers, colleagues and friends when they see it.  Saying nothing is tacit acceptance that that behaviour is okay.  It’s not.   

Wealth inequality 

As already mentioned, women are disproportionately impacted by pay gaps, reduced career trajectories and caring responsibilities. [Again seen in Violet being disadvantaged through not being promoted although she is highly qualified and has a family to support just like the men]. 

So, we hope that when you come to see ‘9 to 5’ you’ll accept that it is written deliberately to be of its time, but remember that the themes and behaviours you see in front of you on the stage still affect women now.  This story is one of women rising up and getting one over on the boss (though their methods may be questionable), and it’s full of joy and fun and may even be a little far fetched (a little?!).  But keep in the back of your mind that the while battles get won every day in small ways, the fight is not over yet.  Be someone who is an ally to women, and a leader for equity, and maybe one day we can all live life on an equal footing. 

I hope you’ve enjoyed thinking about how we can celebrate women and help them achieve equity, and that when you watch the show it will be in your mind as it is for me.  I also trust that you’ll be cheering along with us as we see the stars of our show triumph over adversity and use qualities that we can all aspire to – compassion, support, and altruism – to improve the workplace for all.

Thanks for reading! 

If you haven’t yet, get your tickets for ‘9 to 5’ at  

9 to 5 – The Musical – Buy tickets (citizenticket.co.uk)  

Hope to see you there!