Girlboss: The youth term simply explained

The term girlboss has gained huge popularity in recent years thanks to social media. Successful women with their own businesses like to call themselves girlbosses to break down classic gender stereotypes

What a Girlboss is: What’s behind the term

The term girlboss combines two opposites: “Girl” is English for girl and “Boss” translates as boss. The meaning behind the term “Girlboss” can easily be deduced from the translation. It is about young women who are successful in their jobs and therefore call themselves by this title.

• A girlboss is a successful career woman, an entrepreneur who asserts herself in a male domain or holds a leadership position and confidently does her thing.
• The term is often used as a hashtag on social networks such as Instagram or TikTok. Here, women typically stage themselves in photos and videos in strong poses and elegant outfits, playing on the mix of femininity and dominance.
• Originally, the term Girlboss comes from the Americans Tyler Haney and Sophia Amoruso. Both started their own sports label and vintage online shop respectively, achieved great success and coined the Girlboss attitude.
• Also a 2017 Netflix series of the same name tells the story of a female protagonist who works her way up from a fashion-obsessed young woman to girlboss.

Criticism of the Girlboss trend

Although many people associate a girlboss with a positive image of an aspiring career woman, there is criticism of the term.

• Feminists are critical of the girlboss trend. Because although they advocate for more women to occupy leadership positions, they take offence at the emphasis on “girl” in this context. Girl actually means girl, so this would push career women back into cutesy stereotypes.
• Although a girlboss wants to emphasise that women are just as capable of running a business as men, some bristle at this. The gender of a “boss” should not have to be emphasised when it comes to equality.
• Even pioneering women like Hanley and Amoruso came under harsh criticism only a few years after founding their businesses. Female employees in particular complained of toxic leadership qualities, including termination during pregnancy, which was seen as a setback for female empowerment.