Beyonce, Jennifer Garner, Others Support 'Ban Bossy' Empowerment Campaign (VIDEO)
Beyonce Knowles-Carter recently teamed up with Hollywood actress Jennifer Garner among other stars for a PSA designed to promote female leadership.
The "Ban Bossy" campaign was launched by the Girl Scouts of the USA, LeanIn.org and LifeTime Television. It seeks to ban the word "bossy" via an online petition, in a bid to empower women.
Jane Lynch, Facebook executive Sheryl Sandberg and even former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice also banded together along with Knowles-Carter and Garner to support the cause.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
"'I'm not bossy – I'm the boss!" Knowles-Carter says in one clip.
"'Being labeled something matters," Garner says.
While some critics have raised constitutional arguments against the campaign as it relates to the First Amendment, others believe the move is needed to promote gender equality. Those for the campaign say "bossy" carries a female connotation.
"We need to recognize the many ways we systematically discourage leadership in girls from a young age and instead, we need to encourage them," Sandberg said according to Yahoo News.
On Monday the hashtag #banbossy began trending on social networking site Twitter and an overwhelming number of tweets posted were in favor of the campaign.
"If a man asserts control over his company it's called 'leadership' when a woman does it, it's called being "bossy". #BanBossy #AngryFeminist," one user tweeted.
"I got tired of being told that I'm stubborn and bossy so I started my own company. You can call me Madame President #bossstatus #banbossy," another tweet read.
"#BanBossy is really stupid. I can't believe this is a thing. You gonna ban every trivial word that bothers someone? Please," one seemingly unimpressed user wrote.
In an in-depth article for the Wall Street Journal, Sandberg along with Anna Maria Chávez, revealed that what may be perceived as being just a word has the power to impact whether or not a young woman is encouraged to take on leadership roles. Data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health was used to support this claim.
"So the next time you have the urge to call your little girl bossy? Take a deep breathe and praise her leadership skills instead," Sandberg said.
