Beyoncé, Jennifer Garner, Jane Lynch, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Girl Scouts USA CEO Anna Maria Chávez and many more have banded together as an ensemble of support, motivated by a desire to fortify girl power and ban the word bossy from school-yards.

Sheryl Sandberg's nonprofit group, LeanIn.org, launched the "Ban Bossy" campaign and a series of public service announcements that insists that words like "bossy" be expelled from schools and playgrounds, citing it as disadvantageous to young women.

While young men are perpetually described as "strong" and "determined," young women are unduly described as "bossy" and "overly ambitious," fueling unequal treatment -- and reaffirming antiquated gender norms.

"We know that by middle school, more boys than girls want to lead," Sandberg said, "and if you ask girls why they don't want to lead, whether it's the school project all the way on to running for office, they don't want to be called bossy, and they don't want to be disliked. We call girls bossy on the playground. We call them too aggressive or other B-words in the workplace. They're bossy as little girls, and then they're aggressive, political, shrill, and too ambitious as women."

Fashion designer Diane Von Furstenberg, NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson and U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan are other vocal supporters of the ambitious cause, which insists that young women be ambitious, listen to their own voices, encourage one another to lead, dare to be themselves, and change the world.

"I think the word 'bossy' is just a squasher," says Lynch. Garner, who has two daughters and one son with hubby Ben Affleck, points out, "Being labeled something matters."

The banbossy.com website provides tips for parents, children, teachers and others interested in encouraging young female leaders. The website offers personal stories, and lists support for young women who face words like "bitchy," "cold" and "aggressive," and it enables women to co-opt the term bossy to engage its qualities, to reclaim it.

Chávez became involved with the project after receiving a phone call from Sandberg, and thought that the Girl Scouts would make a natural partner for the initiative, particularly because more than half of all American women were a part of the Girl Scouts at one time or another. And, there are currently two million girls participating. 

"Imagine a classroom in America where 50 kids are present: 25 girls, 25 boys," Chávez said. "And the teacher walks into this classroom and says: 'Boys and girls, I have this really hard, difficult program that I need to solve that's gonna impact this country.' She writes the problem on the board and then turns around and escorts 24 of the 25 girls out of the room. ... She leaves one girl and 25 boys to solve that equation. That's what's happening every day in this country. Why wouldn't we want more girls to be opting in to building the right solutions this country."

The Girl Scouts of America, alone, is an organization that's driven by a desire to engineer young women to be independent, self-sufficent and skill-oriented. The organization has a long history of emboldening a diverse range of women, and it looks only to improve the lives of all young women.

The aforementioned celebrities all make appearances in #banbossy videos; and in one, Beyoncé makes one statement that brightly wraps up the entire movement:

"Be brave. Be you," said Beyoncé when discussing the #banbossy campaign. "I'm not bossy. I'm the boss."

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