Though famously avoiding politics, Dolly Parton was not shy about her support of working women or her choice to be childfree. She was an inspiration, both as a musician and as a childfree career woman. Dolly infamously refused to make herself more palatable or less flamboyant, in spite of decades of mockery for her larger-than-life personality. I want to celebrate Dolly Parton’s incredible life and legacy today.

Celebrating the incredible, inspirational Dolly Parton

Like most Americans and many people across the globe, I was heartbroken to hear about the death of Dolly Parton. Though her Christian faith says she is in a better place and reunited with all the loved ones who passed before her, the world lost one of the brightest stars it had when she left this world for the next. I admired Dolly Parton for many reasons, not the least of which being her status as a highly visible childfree career woman. Dolly stood confidently against decades of opposition from a world that told her to tone it down and stay in her lane. And today, she is remembered for her commitment to loving her neighbors and making the world a little bit brighter.

Why will I always love her? I’ll tell you.

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Dolly Parton let her ambition show

In her book, Behind the Seams: My Life in Rhinestones, Dolly Parton says, “I got dreams so big they’d scare some people.” She was right about that. Her ambition seemed to make a lot of people uncomfortable. A pretty blond woman with a guitar from the hills of Tennessee shouldn’t seriously aspire to be a movie star, a business tycoon, or even a pop star.

As many people already know, Dolly Parton was born into extreme poverty. Her father was illiterate, and her mother was just fifteen when married, meaning there was little hope of improving their circumstances.¹ But Dolly decided early on that she would get people’s attention—she would become famous.

Her confidence was unparalleled, and that can feel threatening to some. It’s especially disconcerting when the woman in question doesn’t fit the image of the power-hungry corporate climber in big shoulder pads and a masculine haircut. Dolly Parton, an openly childfree career woman with a hyper-feminine appearance and sugar-sweet personality, was discordant to many people early on. She made them nervous.

That didn’t stop her or even slow her down.

Dolly the brilliant business woman

Though she was an incredibly intelligent woman in her own right, Dolly Parton had the good sense to surround herself with experts. She hired the right managers, and seems never to have been afraid to leave a situation that wasn’t serving her goals. Yet she didn’t burn bridges. Porter Wagoner famously sued her for three million dollars for breach of contract.² This was long before she earned her first million. But although the professional breakup was rocky, Dolly didn’t hold a grudge. They made amends in the 1980s. She showed everyone that you can be a shrewd business woman and a kind-hearted, compassionate person simultaneously.

That wasn’t the only way she stood out as a career woman. Instead of letting banks and wealth management teams handle all her financial investments, she made many of them personally. This allowed her to invest in things that returned more than money. Dolly Parton invested in the well-being of her town of Pigeon Forge, in her state, in the careers of other artists, in children, and so much more. She purposefully put her money in places where it would help others, not just herself. To me, that makes her a much more aspirational figure than someone who made more money at the expense of their community.

Dolly was a childfree career woman who made children her business

Of her choice to remain childfree, Dolly said, “Since I had no kids, and my husband was pretty independent, I had freedom.”³ She elaborated that she didn’t think being a mother was what God wanted for her. Instead, she says that because of her freedom to work, “everybody’s kids could be mine.”

Her dedication to childhood literacy and education manifested in the Dollywood Foundation. Through it, she helped high school graduation rates in Tennessee skyrocket.⁴ And something else came from the Dollywood Foundation. As you likely know, Dolly Parton created the Imagination Library. For the last thirty-one years, this nonprofit has donated over 300,000,000 books to children.

Dolly Parton crumpled up the stereotype of the cold, self-centered, childfree career woman and chucked it in the trash.

How Dolly Parton supported other women

Though she refused the term “feminist,” it’s undeniable that Dolly Parton supported women’s equality. She spoke out about the importance of women artists having control over their own careers. And no matter how the press tried to get her to complain about other women—from her co-stars to her fellow musicians—she never took the bait. She didn’t need to tear anyone else down to prop herself up. That’s what genuine self-confidence will do.

She also highlighted the work of Black women throughout her career. Most recently, when Beyoncé faced slightly negative press ahead of the release of her first country album, Dolly congratulated her, saying she was excited to listen to it.⁵

I’m sure there were women Dolly Parton didn’t like and wouldn’t have supported, but if so, she never focused on them. Instead she put her energy into lifting others up and highlighting their good qualities. In today’s world, where “trad wives” and Evangelical Christian women are trying to push women out of the workplace, higher education, and even the polls, it’s hard to find the line between fighting against harmful women and helping others. I think Dolly presents us with one good example.

Dolly Parton as an example of Christian womanhood

Speaking of the way Christian Evangelicalism is making broad strides to keep women out of offices, sports, and colleges, it might be difficult to see how Dolly Parton could consider herself a Bible-belt Christian. In keeping with her abstinence from politics, Dolly seems not to have been influenced by the rise of Evangelical Christianity. Instead, she appears to have believed the teachings of Jesus were more essential than the teachings of Billy Graham, James Dobson, and the oil barons who funded “neo-Evangelicalism.”⁶

In spite of her tremendous financial success, she never preached prosperity gospel. Never did she say, “It’s because I’m a better person that God rewarded me and not you.” Or, “If you haven’t made it yet, you simply aren’t trying hard enough.” What she did say was that she always aspired to get better at what she did and to be the best she could be at whatever she put her hand to.

Dolly Parton embodied the lyrics to the hymn, “They’ll know we are Christians by our love.”

The future Dolly Parton modeled

As I briefly mentioned earlier, Dolly was sometimes criticized for staying out of politics. She wouldn’t endorse candidates or say which way she voted (or wanted others to vote). And while that often frustrates me with celebrities, it never did with Dolly.

That’s because Dolly Parton walked the walk. She was a generous, gracious, clever, supportive, childfree career woman. It’s true that part of being a good business woman is making sure you don’t alienate your audience. But I don’t see her tiptoeing around sensitive issues to avoid a drop in income. When she said, “I would never dream of hurting anyone on purpose,”⁷ I believe she meant it.

And although she said most things with a charming smile (including sweetly saying she’d have probably kicked Barbara Walters’s shins for calling her a hillbilly⁸), Dolly never avoided the topics that mattered to her. For instance, she insisted people treat her family and her people with respect. She simply said it with a gentle charm. She supported the LGBTQ+ community long before that was a safe move to make.⁹ Dolly also openly, vocally supported the Black Lives Matter movement, saying, “Of course Black lives matter. Do we think our little white asses are the only ones that matter?”¹⁰

Regarding her universal appeal in a politically divided country, Lindsay Ellis recently said, “Maybe, deep down, she is the human embodiment of the hope that maybe we might reconcile with our estranged family members.”¹¹ That’s probably a big part of it. I think Dolly’s commitment to her causes combined with her refusal to endorse the Democratic or Republican party does something else, too.

I think Dolly helped us to believe that our actions mean more than our labels. That supporting working women and mothers matters more than merely aligning with a party that claims to. Dolly Parton put her time, effort, focus, and money behind the things she believed in. She responded to barbs with grace and smiles (as well as some sharp wit). She sought commonality, praised skill and virtue where she saw it, gave back to her community a hundred-fold, and seemed never to tire of raising others up. And she did all of this not in spite of being a childfree career woman, but because of it. Dolly recognized that her destiny was in working for the benefit of others globally, rather than only in her own home.

Let anyone who doubts the value that childfree women bring to the community look at Dolly Parton. For that matter, let’s all look to her example and try our best to emulate it.

Rest in peace, Dolly. You’ve earned your bed of plush cotton.

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I mentioned Behind the Seams earlier, but Dolly Parton authored and co-authored over a dozen books. You can check them out here:
Dolly Parton at Books-A-Million

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Sources

1. Woman’s World “Meet Dolly Parton’s Parents” ↩︎
2. People.com “Dolly Parton Talks Freedom from Porter Wagoner” ↩︎
3. People.com “Why Dolly Parton and Late Husband Carl Dean Never Had Kids” ↩︎
4. Fortune.com “Dolly Parton loved her Tennessee county so much that her foundation cut its dropout rate to 6%” ↩︎
5. Billboard.com “Dolly Parton Congratulates Beyoncé on Billboard Country Chart Record” ↩︎
6. “How a Passion for Crude Shaped American Faith” ↩︎
7. W Magazine “As soon as you realize that [something] is a problem, you should fix it. Don’t be a dumbass. That’s where my heart is. I would never dream of hurting anybody on purpose.” ↩︎
8. ABC on YouTube ↩︎
9. To highlight the point, there’s an entire Wikipedia page devoted solely to her decades-long support of the gay rights movement ↩︎
10. W Magazine “And of course Black lives matter. Do we think our little white asses are the only ones that matter? No!” ↩︎
11. “Yes, she really was That Great.” by Lindsay Ellis ↩︎