The Girl Boss Narrative
She can bring home the bacon, fry it up in a pan and never let you forget you're a man. The slogan coined by the Enjoli perfume brand in the 1980s describes the woman who does it all. Women in the workforce are redefined every few generations, first being forced in during the 1940s, then pushed out in the ’50s, then reentering, this time with more potency in the 1980s. But as of the mid-2010s, a woman's role in the workplace was given a new look and the working woman “rebranded” into the “girl boss.” The girl boss seems great, another tactic to inspire women to break out of stereotypes, however, there are many issues on the surface and beneath when it comes to the girl boss.
First, the word in general: the necessity to tag “girl” in front of the word boss implies that when a woman is a boss there is something different than when a man is a boss. We know that women taking initiative and being good at their craft is something that has been demonized and the term “girl boss” is just another of rebranding the female boss as someone powerful, but still nice, who makes strong business moves, but also uses overly friendly phraseology in her emails.
The capitalization of the word is also an issue. Because as we see girl boss posters, stickers, t-shirts, and hats pop up everywhere, it can be almost guaranteed that the woman making that merchandise was not fairly compensated and in fact cruelly underpaid for her work. The romanticization of women in the workplace is also something that leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I can't help comparing the girl boss initiative to the one behind the popular Instagram account @feminism that was recently exposed for being run by two white men and capitalizing upon minority and marginalized peoples issues for monetary gain.
There is also something about the girl boss that, although heavily relies on feminine stereotypes, also rejects femininity as a whole, and believes that all of the things that are viewed as girly are negative. Whether it be fashion, or relationships, or having children all things that are feminine become demonized through the eyes of the uber career-focused girl boss.
Something completely separate from feminism that the Girl Boss narrative plays into is the toxic workaholism and productivity that we have all been absorbed in through the past few years.
The Girlboss narrative also plays into the idea and thought process of something being wrong with the nasty and angry authoritative women, as it carves out a certain spot in society for them, and safely keeps them there.
An example of the girl boss, feminism initiative that surely had the right idea, just poor execution was the WINX club live-action reboot and specifically the clothes and the styling in the show. The WINX club reboot is a darker, edgier version of the WINX club cartoon starring an ensemble cast of strong female characters no doubt. Now, what is the issue with the WINX club reboot costuming you may be thinking? The original cartoon featured the characters wearing glittery tops and short skirts and high heels. However, the styling in the reboot is drab and basic and plays into the idea that a powerful woman doesn't care about the way she dresses and that looking like she grabbed two items from her closet with her eyes closed makes the perfect protagonist. We see it in Legally Blonde with the dichotomy between Vivian and Elle and in The Devil Wears Prada with Emily and Andy. And although those two films come around to rejecting that idea, the fact that it's displayed in so many movies is very telling to how we view the smart and the pretty character as two completely polar opposite beings.
Now, all of that to say, the Gir lboss narrative isn't all bad and there is something to the small, but present part of it that aims to un-demonize the career devoted, hardworking, ‘bossy’ woman.
Because in reality a woman doesn't have to fit into a box, and although society works very hard to make all women become real life archetypes in one way or another those attempts should always be wildly unfruitful.
