The Problem With ‘Girl Boss’ Feminism
First coined by the founder of Nasty Gal, Sophia Amoruso, the term ‘girl boss’ is used to describe self-made women, often successful businesswomen. And while focussing on spreading messages of female empowerment is a step in the right direction, many of us are beginning to see through the glittery pink façade of the ‘girl boss’.
The damaging effect of hustle culture on social media washes over the variety of struggles women face in our society – more importantly, it disregards any intersectionality in its view of the issues of class, race and sexuality. How can all women become empowered when this culture maintains that hard work and a positive mindset can get you anywhere? In a capitalist society, the attitudes of irl boss feminism feel like an affirmation to women that society is meritocratic, something it is simply not. Not to mention, of course, that the term ‘girl boss’ itself is pretty strange and infantilising.
The intentions behind the creation of the girl boss are well placed – after all, when women have been held back in their careers for so long, why shouldn’t they have the ability to strive for success at work? But there doesn’t seem to be much progression in boiling feminist success down to financial success and success in the workplace above all else. In focussing on ‘building an empire’, girl boss culture simply advocates for women to gain enough power to be able to exploit the women beneath them in the workplace.
Girl boss feminism is pink and palatable, perhaps showing the reason for its widespread success. It gives some women a source of strength and encouragement in a workplace likely dominated by men. But the glamorisation of this image masks crucial issues of the wage gap, sexual harassment in the workplace, and focusses on the freedoms afforded to only some groups of women. This sugary image gives the impression that our work here is done – women must just study hard, and reap the rewards.
Instagram influencers selling the unattainable girl boss lifestyle offer up similar problems, often refusing to acknowledge the power structures which allowed them to become successful in the first place. There is an assumption that you must step on other women in order to be the best version of yourself, advocating for capitalism instead of patriarchy.
The road to female empowerment is absent of patronising labels like ‘girl boss’. Instead of boiling success down to basic ideals of finance and power, we should instead celebrate female solidarity, using an intersectional approach to understand the variety of inequalities still prevalent. Success at the expense of other women is not feminism – the sooner we realise this, the better.
by Millicent Stott (Staff Opinions Writer)
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