Girlboss – Girl or Boss?

Impeccably dressed, full of energy, bravely facing the challenges she encounters on her path… Girlboss is – or was – the ideal of many people who dream of success in their own right. However, it turns out that her approach not only does not make it easier to fulfill these dreams, but can actually make them more difficult.

From waitress to millionaire

The term girlboss gained popularity in 2014, when entrepreneur Sophia Amoruso released her autobiography under the same title. In it, she described her career path, which led from working at a chain restaurant called Subway to selling vintage clothing on eBay to running her own brand. Her clothing company, Nasty Gal, employed hundreds of people and generated so much revenue that after only a few years in business, Forbes magazine named her one of the richest women in business. The essence of Amoruso's success was her unconventional approach, which she describes as swimming against the tide in a field dominated by men. What does that really mean? Girlboss Amoruso refuses to participate in exploitation and the "over the dead" approach associated with the male style of doing business. Instead, she focuses on authentic communication, unconventional solutions and an intuitive approach. She advises starting with small, achievable goals, but also emphasizes that you can't be afraid to get your hands dirty doing the work that needs to be done. She learns from the mistakes she makes and moves on, enriched with new knowledge and experience. Groundbreaking? Probably not – just a handful of general advice that can be found in numerous guides on broadly understood development.

What contributed to the popularity of girlboss is the impressive success of the creator of the term, as well as an extremely strong media persona and hundreds of thousands of followers who shared their thoughts, supported and motivated each other under the #girlboss tag. Another reason is the need to have a space where women can act on their own terms. So why did the appearance of this word on one billboard result in the removal of an ad deemed sexist? What made the term take on an ironic aftertaste over time?

Nasty girl

Part of the answer to this question lies in the further history of Sophia Amoruso. After several years of managing a company generating millions in profits and involved in media activities, a breakdown came. In 2015, Amoruso resigned from the position of CEO of her own brand, citing as the reason... lack of preparation for this role. In an interview for "Forbes", she stated that without a solid background of business knowledge and experience, effective operation in such a position is basically impossible. Changing Amoruso's role in her own company and the increasingly real vision of bankruptcy combined with further difficulties - Nasty Gal employees publicly state that on a daily basis, the boss does not often follow the principles she proclaims. The accusation of creating a "toxic work environment" is repeated like a refrain. Some people took legal action - Amoruso was accused, among other things, of firing pregnant women. The Netflix series based on her biography does not help with image problems either - in fact, it has the opposite effect. The audience is slamming the character, who was supposed to have a "strong character" but turned out to be a narcissistic manipulator. The producer drops this title after the first season. The slogan girlboss is slowly losing its previous shine.

Where is boy boss ?

Sophia Amoruso's failures are only part of the problem - perhaps even a moderately significant one. The term girlboss has been met with criticism since the beginning of her media career, especially from feminist circles. Amoruso herself admitted in an interview for "Elle" that she considers herself a feminist, but she confessed that she does not like the word because it seems to her "too heavy" and "does not sound positive". She also expressed hope that perhaps girlboss is a new, better term for feminism. But why girlboss and not at least womanboss ? Doesn't the term, which can be translated as "girl boss", have an infantilizing character and belittle the achievements of people with their own businesses or holding managerial positions? Defenders of this neologism believe that it is an attempt to regain “girliness” – belittling phrases such as “grasz jak dziewczyna” (i.e. poorly) or “dziewczyńska gadaka” (i.e. on shallow topics) cast a negative shadow on a word that should be neutral. Magdalena Zawisza from Anglia Ruskin University, however, believes that it is not that simple – she points out that such word-formation attempts often end in failure because they do not take into account the broader spectrum of the problem. Separating girl bosses from the rest of the bosses does not give them any additional power – instead, it makes their achievements perceived on different terms. Let’s try to reverse the situation – the word boyboss did not come into being because there was no need for it. A male boss is still a corporate standard. But who would he be if he existed? A boy boss sounds like someone who has not yet grown into his role. It does not add any additional value. Why should it be any different in the case of a girl boss?

Not bad for a girl

Infantilization and belittling of achievements are not everything, however. A girlboss is not just a boss – she is a girl boss, so along with her title she also gets a number of additional requirements related to stereotypical perceptions of gender and all the problems that result from them. Although the intuition and care emphasized by Amoruso may be useful in business, linking them to gender is based on a cultural thought pattern. Alexandra Solomon from Northwestern University points to another aspect, which we can call image-related: according to the research she cites, women in power are perceived as… less likable. Identifying with a girl boss may therefore be an attempt to maintain the sympathy of those around her . There is nothing wrong with wanting to be liked, but a nice girlboss will face difficulties that gentlemen bosses do not usually have to deal with – her overly nice approach will be perceived as naivety, and when setting boundaries, she will face the accusation that her friendly approach is just a pose. A term that was intended to support female entrepreneurs turns out to be yet another trap.

Does work pay off?

Let's leave the language issues aside - when discussing girl bosses, one cannot ignore an important social aspect. Why was or is a girl boss needed? Amoruso herself pointed to the need to develop a new model in which women's success would not be measured by the previously prevailing patriarchal standards and tried to propose her own solution, which many people found helpful. Previously, "equal opportunities" consisted of proving that a woman could do just as well in the business world as a man. However, this turned out to be a difficult task because in order to be considered "valuable" in the eyes of society, she could not neglect her family sphere. Let's imagine a modern businesswoman from the 80s, who in a suit with padded shoulders gives rude orders to her subordinates; she never shows any signs of tiredness, and raising children comes easily to her - at least that's how it's supposed to look. It would seem that we have those times behind us and we are increasingly aware of the problems generated by the myth of "having it all". Girlboss is, however, the spiritual daughter of our businesswoman – she convinces us that we can have anything if we just work hard enough. That we will learn how to achieve it if we just read Amoruso’s book. That admitting to being tired is okay, but it can be easily dealt with by practicing mindfulness (this media image has contributed to the association of the word girlboss with privileged white women who, thanks to their economic background, can afford to make business mistakes). So we have a repeat of the already known trap, although in a completely different package. The alleged feminism of girl bosses turns out to be just a marketing slogan enabling us to reach a specific target group. Girlboss claims that its goal is to rebuild social structures, but it only reinforces existing beliefs that success in life is associated with professional success, and professional success in turn almost automatically makes us an authority who can show others the way.

There is no doubt that supporting non-men on their professional development path, especially in fields that have been dominated by patriarchal structures for decades, is incredibly important. However, offering them a new, this time "girly" framework does not seem to be the best idea. Instead of inventing more slogans, maybe it would be better to reduce their number to the absolute minimum? After all, a good_good female boss_boss is not recognized by the title she gives herself.

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