Beyoncé, Jennifer Garner Unite for 'Ban Bossy' Campaign
Pushy, stubborn, bossy.
"Being labeled something matters," says Jennifer Garner in a new campaign – Ban Bossy – that's encouraging girls to be leaders.
The Girl Scouts of the USA and LeanIn.org have teamed up in partnership with Lifetime television to create a PSA featuring Beyoncé, Jane Lynch, Condoleezza Rice, Diane von Furstenberg, Garner and others that points out that girls are discouraged from taking leadership roles because of labeling and name-calling.
"Girls are less interested in leadership than boys," Beyoncé says, and that's because they worry about being called "bossy" while little boys who step up are called "leaders."
"I think the word 'bossy' is just a squasher," Glee star Lynch says. The campaign seeks to empower girls by encouraging everyone to sign a pledge to ban the five-letter word at banbossy.com.
"We need to recognize the many ways we systematically discourage leadership in girls from a young age – and instead, we need to encourage them," says Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, who founded LeanIn.org. "So the next time you have the urge to call your little girl bossy? Take a deep breath and praise her leadership skills instead."
"There are no limits on your horizon," former Secretary of State Rice says in the ad, while designer von Furstenberg encourages girls to "dare to be you."
But possibly the strongest Girl Power message of all comes from Beyoncé. The mother of daughter Blue Ivy, 2, says, "I'm not bossy – I'm the boss."
