The word is everywhere I look. When I walk through the stationary section of Target, the word is all over the front of notebooks and planners. When I pick up a seemingly normal graphic tee-shirt from Forever 21, I audibly sigh once I turn it around. When I check my Instagram DM from a pyramid scheme, the first thing they say to me is this word: Girl boss.
Now don’t get me wrong. I’m all for woman empowerment, as long as it is authentic and intersectional. The term girl boss is neither, or at least it hasn’t been.
The term girl boss grew popularity in 2014 when Sophia Amoruso released her best-selling autobiography book #GIRLBOSS, detailing her journey from operating an eBay account to founding fashion empire, Nasty Gal. In 2016 Netflix announced a television series adaptation of Amoruso’s autobiography, and in 2017, Amoruso founded Girlboss Media, a company aimed towards a female audience.
We all wanted to be a girl boss, and for a moment, we were seeing women unabashedly infiltrating those high positions in all industries, which was long overdue. Instead of crushing the power men uphold by the patriarchy, women were hustling to take what they wanted. Women were taking charge for themselves, and other women could look up to those women to work towards the same goal, to be a boss.
But unfortunately, girl bosses did not change society as they hoped they would. Amoruso’s career and Nasty Gal were subject to a slew of controversial accusations of discrimination, toxic management, unethical labor practices, a history of legal battles, and bankruptcy. The picture-perfect image of a girl boss was no more. We were hit with the reality that a girl boss could easily be the reflection of a male boss, but now as an affluent white millennial woman.
That’s another issue with girl bosses. The term girl boss is supposed to be a symbol of feminism but, it lacks intersectionality and compassion for other women and female-aligning people who aren’t just yet publicly proclaimed girl bosses. White women focusing on their hustle tend to forget about women of color and those actively doing the work to dismantle the patriarchy. Yes, feminism is equality of all sexes, and women should be CEO’s but not at the expense of hurting other women. As a feminist, I think it is important to be critical when other women make mistakes, something doesn’t include all women, and when something is advertised as a false sense of equality. This is how we continue to progress.
The issue with the girl boss mentality is that it inherently plays into the idea that women have to be better than men, or they are nothing. To keep that image, they become prey to becoming just as corrupt as men.
Trust me, I would love to distance myself as far as I can from anything male-dominated. However, don’t call me a girl boss, boss babe, she-ro, or any other name that is meant to sound cute and empowering but comes across as demeaning. If we’re going to eliminate workplace gender disparities and gender disparities everywhere, let’s work towards: eliminating the work-pay-gap, making sure Hispanic migrant farm working women are no longer abused, ensuring Black women’s safety, and advocating for women & female-aligning people’s rights.