The concept of #Girlboss took the world by storm when it originated in 2013 and was coined to be innovative and empowering for women. Now, it is clear that the #Girlboss trope is much messier than originally thought and can become a corporate gimmick with a rebranded version of misogyny, racism and class privilege.
Sherly Sandberg published a popular book in 2013 called Lean In: Women, Work, and The Will to Lead, which was a guide to combating personal barriers like fear of criticism, perfectionism and self-doubt. A plan for success in the corporate workplace was presented through the position of self-improvement. Sandberg was not trying to dismantle the current system. Instead, she was describing how to excel within its confines. She found great success in the corporate world as the COO of Facebook with an estimated net worth of $1.9 billion.
The term #Girlboss was officially coined in 2014, after which it took off, and we have Sophia Amoruso to thank for that with her extremely popular feminist business memoir titled #Girlboss, published the same year. Amoruso began her career selling clothes on eBay, but soon after, created the fast-fashion brand Nasty Gal. Amoruso shares the same view as Sandberg. Instead of dismantling power systems, she said that women should change their behaviour so that they can take the power for themselves. Both Amoruso and Sandberg represented the success of ambitious, mostly-millennial women in the professional world as a form of activism.
“Their pursuit of power could be rebranded as a righteous quest for equality, and the success of female executives and entrepreneurs would lift up the women below them.” – The Atlantic, 2020
There were huge similarities between the girl bosses in these corporate roles. They were wealthy, white women who had large social media followings and monopolized being the public faces of their brands. Their brands sold different products but peddled the same message: their position was evidence of them shattering the glass ceiling and the false promise that they had inclusive business practices.
In June of 2020, girl bosses everywhere began to fall rapidly, one after the other with a slew of strong allegations of creating toxic work environments and perpetuating racism. Sophia Amoruso, who pioneered the term girlboss, resigned on June 22 from the #Girlboss company she created years ago.
With the turn of the decade, many high profile girl bosses were exposed for their treacherous behaviour and decided––or were forced to––step away from their companies. In Dec. 2019, Steph Korey stepped down as CEO of the popular luggage brand Away. In Feb. 2020, Tyler Hanley resigned as CEO of her millennial activewear brand Outdoor Voices. One by one, these powerful CEOs stepped down after being exposed for racism, plagiarism and for creating toxic work environments.
Let’s be clear: the word ‘girlboss’ itself is inherently sexist. We don’t call men ‘boyboss,’ so why do we have to confine or define women to their gender once again, highlighting it at every turn. It is fake-woke performative feminism. The downfall of the girlboss was public and rapid, but it was not a bad thing nor is it the end of women leaders. The fall of the girlboss opens more space––and new space––for inclusivity among leaders without being defined by their gender, class or race.