1/14/2019
The Pool - Work - The Term 'Girlboss' Needs To Be Exorcised From Our Collective Vocabulary
WORK
The term “girlboss” needs to be exorcised from our collective vocabulary 5
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It belittles women and their work, says Rachael Sigee By Rachael Sigee
When I was at primary school, we would periodically become obsessed with impossible-seeming riddles. I remember one about a father and son being in a car crash, which kills the father. At the hospital, the surgeon refuses to operate on the boy because it is their son. How could this possibly be? The answer, of course, is that the surgeon was the boy’s MOTHER – heteronormativity and the nuclear family were still thriving when I was eight. The reason the riddle would stump people (well, children) was because the automatic image of a surgeon, conjured by their subconscious, was a man. It’s the same with the term “boss”. Socially, most people are conditioned to picture a man when thinking about a boss, a CEO, a manager or an employer.
https://www.the-pool.com/work/work-news/2018/30/Rachael-Sigee-on-on-the-problem-with-girlboss
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1/14/2019
The Pool - Work - The Term 'Girlboss' Needs To Be Exorcised From Our Collective Vocabulary
Unless of course, the term is “girlboss”. Then it is quite clear that she is a strong, independent, badass woman who is in charge of her own destiny. Right? At least, that’s what it’s supposed to mean. It’s supposed to represent an inspiring message that there aren’t enough visible role models in leadership for girls and young women. But as girlboss has gone from strength to slickly marketed strength, it has morphed from one woman’s branding strategy to a faintly embarrassing but harmless hashtag to a pinkified qualifier that patronises successful women, who frankly deserve better. (To be very clear, unless it is in reference to an actual little girl who has set up a business, in which case, she is self-evidently a girlboss). For all its good intentions, girlboss is a perfect example of the unhelpful ways in which language is used to manipulate and restrict women, even in the guise of empowerment. Pairing “girl” with “boss” dilutes and undermines the power associated with being in charge. It makes it more palatable for those (men) who are uncomfortable with women in authority. It lessens a woman’s achievement and trivialises her success – making her serious endeavours sound like a cute hobby. Would you call Oprah a girlboss? Beyoncé? Sheryl Sandberg, Arianna Huffington, Jacinda Ardern? “Girlboss” infantilises women, while at the same time reminding them that their currency is youth; the longer they can remain a “girl”, the better (the irony being that young women are routinely ignored, belittled and underestimated in workplaces). Our workplace communication is steeped in masculinity, from “manpower” to “grow a pair”, while gendered language – women being labelled as sassy, feisty, nagging or bossy – is limiting. Every turn of phrase that places men at the heart of business and success, innocuous though it might seem, is bolstering the patriarchal cage placed on women in the workplace.
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The top definition on Urban Dictionary refers exclusively to bloggers and influencers snagging freebies – it’s not exactly aspirational stu https://www.the-pool.com/work/work-news/2018/30/Rachael-Sigee-on-on-the-problem-with-girlboss
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1/14/2019
The Pool - Work - The Term 'Girlboss' Needs To Be Exorcised From Our Collective Vocabulary
It feels especially lazy in a world that is having ever more frequent discussions about inclusivity, where the experiences of trans and nonbinary people are beginning to be acknowledged. The solution to fix these linguistic limitations is not to create a reductive feminine alternative – like girlboss – but to iron out the gendering to make neutral language work for everyone. The term girlboss was popularised (and trademarked) by entrepreneurial superstar Sophia Amoruso, founder of clothing brand Nasty Gal. In 2014, she released her memoir #GIRLBOSS (later adapted into a Netflix original series), detailing her rise from college dropout to success story. Almost instantly, girlboss joined “SheEO”, “Boss Babe” and “Mompreneur” as bywords for female success and it has persisted – there are over 11 million posts with the hashtag on Instagram. A new “happiness start-up” called From The Get-Go describes itself as “for girlbosses who need a break”. When Paris Hilton was recently asked about Kylie Jenner being described as “self-made” on the cover of Forbes, Hilton replied, “She’s a girlboss.” Because of its origins, girlboss is intrinsically linked to capitalism and steadily it seems to be less about achieving and more about the appearance of achieving. The hashtag is used when people are “bossing” their brunch or their workout or their haircut. These are symbols that society has decreed show success, but unless they are a cafe owner, interior designer or hairdresser, they are empty. The top definition on Urban Dictionary refers exclusively to bloggers and influencers snagging freebies – it’s not exactly aspirational stuff. Girlboss has been co-opted by brands looking to profit by telling women that their girlboss status is dependent on a certain lifestyle. Are you even a true girlboss if you don’t have it emblazoned on your phone case, your clutch bag and your slogan tee? That's not to say that successful women are not worth celebrating, but the necessary self-branding is pretty reductive. Especially when this specific term is fundamentally linked to an attractive, thin, young, white woman. A girlboss looks like Sophia Amoruso; never mind that the wheels have since come off since she left Nasty Gal amid lawsuits and scandal around employee working conditions. https://www.the-pool.com/work/work-news/2018/30/Rachael-Sigee-on-on-the-problem-with-girlboss
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1/14/2019
The Pool - Work - The Term 'Girlboss' Needs To Be Exorcised From Our Collective Vocabulary
Girlboss wants to be freeing, but it is built on limitations. If Amoruso’s original point in calling herself a girlboss was to highlight how few women are in leadership positions, then the widespread use of the term misses the nuance. It suggests that female bosses can only be compared with one another, rather than in the context of their male peers. Along with SheEO, language like girlboss perpetuates the idea that women in leadership roles are something special and unique, when really they should be the norm. It actually fetishises the idea of women working full stop when, in reality, women who work aren’t special – they are the majority. The case for terms like girlboss is usually built on ideas of empowerment, community, solidarity and sisterhood, but there are ways to celebrate and inspire women that don’t necessitate a specially manufactured qualifying label. It’s not women who need convincing that they have potential – it’s the mostly male gatekeepers who prevent us from reaching it.
@littlewondering
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OR SIGN UP WITH FACEBOOK Kylie Jenner, Sophia Amoruso and Paris Hilton (Photos: Getty Images)
https://www.the-pool.com/work/work-news/2018/30/Rachael-Sigee-on-on-the-problem-with-girlboss
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