The Internet is “Banning Bossy” ! Everyone has seen the hashtag across the web and  at first, I thought it had something to do with bullying. How IRONIC that my first assumption was to place a negative connotation on the word “bossy”. However, upon further research I found that I was way off on my assumptions.

I visited www.BanBossy.com and the first statement you see on the site is a sentence that 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.””   Hmmmm, never really gave this issue much thought, so then I kept reading and the site goes on to explain how the word BOSSY sends messages to our girls that they shouldn’t raise their hands or speak up.  I was like, REALLY?

Now this takes me back to childhood and I just remember relating the word BOSSY to being mean.  The www.BanBossy website goes on to say that this word affects girls and by middle school they are less interested in being leaders which leads to how they behave as adults.  OK, this is deep, right?  But then, I had to start looking at this from the eyes of an adult and how women who are more “assertive” are more likely to be labeled Bitches, or perhaps something worse, and we all know men are never insulted for practicing their assertiveness.

The site has the following statistics:

·         Girls get less airtime in class. They are called on less and interrupted more.

·         The confidence gap starts early. Between elementary and high school, girls’ self–esteem drops 3.5 times more than boys’.

·         Bossy holds girls back. Girls are twice as likely as boys to worry that leadership roles will make them seem “bossy.”

The site also had an interesting graphic, It displayed a picture of a little boy that said, “I don’t know any boys called bossy” – and I was like, hell me either!   So now I completely get it, its encouraging leadership in our young girls.  Also, when I think about it, this is probably another reason why the gap in managerial positions, pay/wages, business start-ups, continue to be an issue, even in 2014. Men still surpass women in these areas and the reason may be because women do internally have an issue with speaking up and taking on this assertive roll.

So check it out, www.banbossy.com and let me know what you think about this #BanBossy Campaign!