Dolly Parton defied country music's expectations for women and built a career on her own terms: experts

From the get-go, Dolly Parton was a force to be reckoned with.She challenged social norms, broke barriers for women in country music and ultimately helped redefine what a female country star could be.Throughout her life, Parton — who died Aug.

25 after a brief battle with cancer — helped "expand the narrative" of how women were perceived, not only in country music but beyond it, experts told Fox News Digital."Dolly followed some other pioneering women like Patsy Cline and Loretta Lynn who had already challenged expectations and proved that women’s experiences belonged in country music," Dr.Tracy King, a chartered clinical psychologist, writer and pop-culture commentator, told Fox News Digital.DOLLY PARTON DIES AT THE AGE OF 80: A LOOK AT HER LIFE THROUGH PHOTOSDolly Parton paved the way for women in country music and beyond.

(ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images)"However, where they belonged was still within a narrow narrative of specific roles such as: the respectable woman, the suffering wife, the attractive female or the supporting partner to a more ‘powerful’ man.""Dolly helped expand the narrative," King continued."She could be the glamorous star, serious songwriter, ambitious decision-maker, owner of her work and a brand manager of her public identity all at the same time.

She did not have to remove her femininity, accent or background to become powerful."WHY DOLLY PARTON COULD BRING TOGETHER AMERICANS WHO AGREE ON ALMOST NOTHING"This gave other women much more possibility," she added."You could be emotionally open without being seen as weak, commercially ambitious without being masculine and visible without surrendering control of your story."Dolly Parton died on Aug.

25.(AP Photo/Andres Kudacki, File)Long before the rhinestones, platinum records and entertainment empire, Parton was one of 12 children raised in a one-room cabin in rural Tennessee, where money was scarce but music was a constant."I’ll always...