Banning bossy is all well and good. Words have power, but the power changes over time. There are bigger issues out there.
Name the field, and there are strong female role models. True, we haven’t had a woman as president – yet – but Indira Ghandi, Golda Meir, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, and Margaret Thatcher have shown tremendous diversity in ethnicity and in approaches to national leadership. All four had children, too. We’ve also had three female secretaries of state in a row: Madeleine Albright; Condoleeza Rice; and Hillary Clinton. In religion, the role models include Joan of Arc and Katharine Jefforts Schori. In business, Sheryl Sandberg and Mary Barra. In science, Marie Curie is top of mind and hardly alone. Even Disney has an array of accomplished princesses and heroines, most recently from the movies “Brave” and “Frozen”.
Girls have role models. Girls are empowered. Girls do better, on average, in school, than boys. We don’t need to be helping girls. The grownups are the ones who need to do the work if we are going to accept human beings for all that they are.
That’s all there is to it.
I think girls do benefit from mentors and programs designed especially for girls that help them build confidence. I was in girl scouts, but benefited the most by taking all-girls classes. I haven’t followed the “bossy” campaign stuff, but I think focusing on helping girls build confidence in a positive way and in environments where they feel safe to speak up is more important than just trying to ban a word.