What’s the difference between a girlboss and a career woman? The simplest answer, perhaps, is time. Once it was the term “career woman” that translated female ambition as selfish, immoral and slightly ridiculous; now, “girlboss” does the job. The morals in question have changed. The effect is the same.
You may not have heard the word. It traces the rise and fall of a particular movement in feminism. Girlboss originated around 2014 as an approving description of the type of success epitomised by Sheryl Sandberg’s “lean in” approach. It cheered on the rugged individualist making it in a man’s world through “moxie” and “hustle”.
