Avi’Yam Jordan
MC Practicum Student
Who runs the world? Girls! Beyoncé sure knows how to make women feel empowered, but would banning the word ‘bossy’ promote female leadership? Sheryl Sandburg, the Chief Operating Officer of Facebook has started a campaign to ban the word ‘bossy’ saying that it discourages young girls to accept leadership positions.
The word bossy is highly offensive to Sandburg. Visiting her website banbossy.com, the first webpage states, “When a little boy asserts himself, he’s called a leader. Yet when a little girl does the same, she risks being branded ‘bossy’.
Words like bossy send a message: don’t raise your hand or speak up. By middle school, girls are less interested in leading than boys -a trend that continues into adulthood. Together we can encourage girls to lead.”
Celebrities and public figures such as Beyoncé Knowles, Jennifer Garner and Michelle Obama have all joined the campaign to ban the word. However, would banning the word because of an emotional response interfere with our right to freedom of speech?
I do not believe that being called bossy can tear young girls down, but if society is going to acknowledge the words that can discourage women, we must also look at men.
Double standards can always be reversed. People will judge a young lady who has had multiple sex partners, but excuse a man. Society will be more accepting of a woman who has same sex attractions but will quickly scrutinize a man. Whether a woman is a housewife, works or lives a single and independent lifestyle, much of society gives her the option without judgment. While if a man was without a job and lived under the provision of the wife as a househusband, he is judged as a deadbeat, loser or lazy. When it comes to men and women, double standards can be either with you or against you but it’s up to you as an individual to accept your title.
“I’m a boss chick! I’m the Queen Bee!” How often have we heard something similar come from a female in taking pride about how she is a leader? So is bossy a word that affects all young girls? From my perspective, it affects some but not all. Insults come to people in all ways, but it’s all about how you rise above them. The insult may sting to young girls but if you look around you still see many women that are strong that prosper.
Whether the word bossy gets banned or not, there will always be other words that women will have to face in the workforce and socially. A word only has as much power as you give it and we all have the power to choose what we give our attention to anyway. It can only hurt if you allow it or do nothing to stop it.
Therefore, instead of banning bossy, how about we work on the self-esteem of young girls to develop them into women of character.
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