At TT we’re always keeping our ears to the ground for innovative programs designed to empower students, and we invite new ideas that drive conversation about gender equity. A few weeks ago I heard that Sheryl Sandberg—Facebook COO and author of the best-selling book Lean In—is partnering with the Girl Scouts and other organizations to publicize the recently launched Ban Bossy campaign. The mission? Stop people from using the word bossy when describing girls who lead.
The campaign’s website includes leadership tips for educators, parents and girls themselves, sharable images, and statistics and quotes surrounding girls’ leadership and how the word “bossy” can discourage it. “This [campaign] isn’t as simple as one word,” Sandberg has been quoted as saying, “and this shouldn’t be trivialized as a word. This is a word that is symbolic of systematic discouraging of girls to lead.”
As a woman who has sought out leadership roles throughout my life, this campaign intrigued me. But before I had time to wrap my mind around Ban Bossy, I began hearing that the campaign has been heavily criticized. Some look unfavorably at its endorsement by Beyoncé, questioning her as an appropriate representative for girls’ empowerment causes. But the primary criticisms come from those who believe banning a word is ineffective and an inadequate way to encourage leadership among girls. After all, lack of female leadership is about systems that hinder girls from attaining those roles. Can policing individual words change those systems?
Women’s media platform SheKnows is one voice asking this question. They’ve launched an alternative campaign called #BossyIs.
SheKnows editors say that the Ban Bossy campaign led them to debate “whether it’s effective to ban words or ‘own’ them.” This conversation led to the creation of a video in which eight- and nine-year-old girls discuss what the word bossy means to them, making it clear that they’re not fazed by the word.
When asked, “What if someone called you bossy?” one girl replies, “I am the awesomest. I’m not bossy, but I am the boss.” Another responds, “I’d say, ‘Well, that’s what you think. That’s not exactly what other people think or I think.’” Later, girls indicate that being bossy is not gender-specific and that they don’t believe boys are naturally “more powerful” than girls. Instead of avoiding the word bossy, these girls define for themselves what it means to be bossy—and what it means to be a leader.
But while the #BossyIs campaign has a great video (and an important message about the significance of having a dialogue with girls and boys about the differences between being bossy and leading), there doesn’t seem to be much more to it than that. And while I don’t love Ban Bossy’s emphasis on a single word, upon closer inspection it seems the campaign has more depth—and more than its alternative offers.
Ban Bossy’s parent’s guide does a nice job of asking all adult relatives to model behavior and language that supports assertive females and to maintain equal expectations for the girls and boys in their families. The girl’s guide is empowering and urges girls to own their actions, language and behavior, especially as they relate to speaking up for themselves and setting and achieving goals.
Most relevant to the TT community, the teacher’s guide offers advice for: being mindful of calling on boys more than girls, including positive role models in classroom library selections and identifying and preventing stereotype threat. It also provides handy classroom activities that involve whole-group discussions about goals and leadership, but it could do more to encourage direct dialogue about gender inequality, especially as it concerns beliefs about leadership and ambition. After all, the classroom is a great space for boys and girls to contemplate the dynamics surrounding this problem—and to determine how to change them.
As I was thinking through the pros and cons of Ban Bossy and #BossyIs, my dad sent my sister and me a few images taken from the latest issue of Ebony magazine. “Be thankful for what you have, but continue to seek your dreams,” said one. Another read, “Show up. And when you show up, be great.” It occurred to me that my father has always pushed me to aspire to greatness, even today still encouraging his adult daughters to lead and “be great.” That many girls don’t receive this kind of encouragement—or, worse, receive the message that ambition is unbecoming to females—should concern and motivate us as educators to talk about our spoken and unspoken messages regarding gender and leadership. The best way to tackle any systemic problem is through a combination of education and dialogue. If Ban Bossy and #BossyIs can get us talking, we’d rather keep the conversation going than choose sides.
Bell is an associate editor for Teaching Tolerance.
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