In Valorizing 5 to 9, Squarespace Didn’t Read the Room.

The opening bars of Dolly Parton’s “9 to 5” make me feel like I could run through walls.

The song is an unequivocal banger—from the cheerful endurance found in a cup of ambition, the rage of being a step on the bossman’s ladder, to the fellowship of being in the same boat with a lot of your friends.

The sound of Dolly’s iconic acrylic nails on a typewriter inspired the clacking baseline. Elizabeth Warren embraced it as the soundtrack to her campaign. The ethos of class conflict, populism, and feminism extends far beyond the era of shoulder pads and perms.

Which is exactly why the  Squarespace ad fails to read the proverbial room.

Both the song and the 1980 film bearing the same name were born out of support for the activist organization 9to5 - an organization that prides itself on “working for economic security for all women—particularly women of color—for the past 45 years.” The group advocates for real, intersectional policies that protect working women, from policies like Ban the Box that reduce discrimination against people with criminal records to more accessible and affordable family and medical leave.

Set against the current context of a raging pandemic and a female workforce that has been dealt an existential blow, these are the exact kind of policies worth fighting for.

Women are not just bearing the brunt of the pandemic and the recession; they’re bearing all of it. The National Women’s Law Center reported that women have lost 5.4 million jobs since the pandemic began, with 2.1 million dropping out of the workforce entirely. The percentage of women in the workforce today is as low as it was just eight years after the song’s release.

It’s not just an economic crisis. It’s a mental health crisis. 62% of mothers with partners say they are chiefly responsible for taking care of the children, compared with 24% of fathers.

Safe to say it’s not the moment to celebrate “hustle culture,” and encouraging women already on the brink to work 5PM to 9AM, as Squarespace’s announcement clarifies.

To be clear, Dolly Parton has arguably done more for the nation than the entirety of the previous administration. She’s defied characterization, and been as outstanding ethically as she is creatively—funding the vaccine, standing up for Black Lives Matter, literally saving a child’s life from oncoming traffic. She’s a force for moral clarity, as well a hero for anyone who’s been subject to patriarchy and poverty.  

To use her voice as an anthem that pushes anyone, but especially women that are already coming apart at the seams, to do more, seems tone deaf at the specific moment we’re in. (Not to mention, 9 to 5 workday itself is a fossil from another time.)

But when the world broke down, help never came, and instead we turned to women for unpaid labor. The undeniable reality of working women today is truly all takin’ and no givin’.

Dolly Parton is an icon. She shouldn’t be reduced to a cheerleader for the very world that’s letting women down.

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Maripat Finigan is a Vice President of Creative Strategy with a focus on CSR, sustainability, and social purpose. With a background in political communications, public affairs and policy, Maripat blends industry expertise with social purpose to establish compelling solutions that help brands clearly articulate their mission with cultural relevance.