Several weeks ago Sheryl Sandberg along with Girl Scouts USA CEO, Anna Maria Chavez and former Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice launched the "Ban Bossy" Campaign to Empower Girls to Lead Initiative.
On the ABC News piece by Cynthia McFadden, Sandberg the author of "Lean In" wants to ban the word "bossy". She brings up that the negative put-down stops girls from going for leadership roles.
What came to mind first was "Sticks and stones, may break my bones, but words can never hurt me". Words to live by? Not according to Sandberg. Negative shutdowns stop girls from pursuing leadership roles because girls don't want to be called "bossy and don't want to be disliked.
When we look at more statistics the numbers are not positive: Women do 66 percent of the work in the world, they make 10 percent of the income, and 1 percent hold property. Women are 50 percent of the population, 17 percent hold board seats of companies and 19 percent of Congress are women. 2014 and these figures for me are sad.
When I started kindergarten I was one of the youngest in my class. My time before attending school I was rarely around children, mostly adults. I remember report cards we were got non-traditional letter grades. O for outstanding, G for good, S for satisfactory and N for needs improvement. I dug my old cards out and every semester through that year I received only Satisfactory and a few Needs Improvements. My two needs improvements were in works independently with others and plays well with others.
Throughout my life I have had my share of disappointments, disagreements, and being disliked. There are many words that can be expressed when describing many women in today's working world. Why not organized, initiators, assertive, ambitious.
In the same interview, Barbara Walters who will be retiring from her long running show this year described how throughout her career as a journalist she has been called "bitchy" and "pushy". She was one of the first to work in a male dominated field and she has conquered the ultimate.
In the interview with ABC it was mentioned that Warren Buffet, (one of the wealthiest Americans) had made an eye opening and interesting observation. He said, "he had made it where he is today because he only competed with half the population". Pretty profound on his part but also sad. Would he be where he is today if attitudes had been different?
Bossy is just another word. Sometimes it can hurt, other times people think it is a compliment. Put our big girl panties on and get out their and change things. Maybe to coin a phrase from my 4 year old granddaughter's favorite movie and song right now maybe women should forge on and just "Let it Go".
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