Corporate feminism, mainly known as “Girlboss feminism,” really came into the spotlight in 2014 due to Sophia Amoruso’s book “#Girlboss.” This tells the story of Amoruso becoming the founder and CEO of the successful clothing company Nasty Gal. This movement is supposed to empower women in the workplace. While, it does sound great that there is more activism for equality in the workplace. Corporate feminism endorses the mindset that if they work hard enough, they can single handedly defeat sexism in the workplace and become successful. Corporate feminism is essentially a revamped version of the “American Dream.”
The “American Dream” is the belief that if one works hard enough they can achieve a certain amount of wealth, The reason for adding a feminism element is because more people are staring to realize how unrealistic the “American Dream” is. It is unrealistic for one system to benefit everyone, especially because of discrimination and privilege.
In fact, Sophia Amoruso started a website called “Girlboss Media” which was supposed to empower entrepreneurs and she would also have information about rallies that she would be hosting to spread the word of corporate feminism. She was doing this while still being the CEO of Nasty Gal so originally, things were only looking good for Amoruso. That was the case until she started getting sued by former Nasty Gal employees who were accusing her of discrimination which lead to the bankrupsy of the company, and then to her stepping down. For a while, she still had her website but apparently she mismanaged it to the point where she had no choice but to sell it.
Corporate feminism is just making the work environment more competetive for women because corporate feminism is encouraging women to do whatever it takes to get on top no matter what. If they do not, then they are the reason why women get unfair treatment. “I think it is dangerous to have that mentality because it will add to the divide that already exists,” senior Kylie Taczynski said.
In a way, this is only pushing women to crave validation and only see their potential through their work. Corporate feminism does nothing but add to the sturuggles women have to face and will only erases the progress that has already been made for equality in the workplace.
