{"id":21604,"date":"2021-01-20T17:17:51","date_gmt":"2021-01-21T01:17:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/?post_type=blog&p=21604"},"modified":"2023-03-27T17:48:12","modified_gmt":"2023-03-27T17:48:12","slug":"working-womens-wardrobe-how-the-1970s-opened-feminist-fashion","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/dipsy.pbs.org\/independentlens\/blog\/working-womens-wardrobe-how-the-1970s-opened-feminist-fashion\/","title":{"rendered":"Working Women’s Wardrobe: How the 1970s Opened Feminist Fashion"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Marlen Komar<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

In the early 1970s, a group of Boston secretaries came together to improve the working conditions in their offices. Tired of low pay, lack of advancement opportunities, and constant sexual harassment, they created the group 9to5, which would eventually grow into a nationwide revolution that would change the American workplace for women. <\/span>\u00a09to5: The Story of a Movement <\/span><\/i><\/a>captures this previously untold story of the feminist movement that solely focused on opening opportunities for working women\u2014both in boardrooms and in their closets. <\/span>As women demanded regular salary reviews, written job descriptions, equal access to promotion opportunities, and benefits equal to men in similar job categories (women made 59 cents to every dollar,) some women also demanded freedom in their office wardrobes.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Feminists recognized that fashion was (is!<\/em>) political for many women, and even more so in the male-dominated workplace, where women were expected to play a passive and supportive role. While most women wore feminine dresses and pantyhose, or stylish pantsuits with womanly accents to work, feminists had a different idea of what would get women ahead in their corporate climb. Let\u2019s explore what those wardrobe staples would have looked like, versus what women were actually required to wear.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\n\t\t