Young: The 'Ban Bossy' campaign misfires

Article here. Excerpt:

'But is there any evidence that American girls in this day and age are fragile flowers whose confidence can be destroyed by a discouraging word? According to BanBossy.com, "girls are twice as likely as boys to worry that leadership roles will make them seem 'bossy' " -- a factoid based on a 2008 report from the Girl Scout Research Institute, "Change It Up!"

But while the report is based on a solid study -- a survey of about 2,500 girls and 1,500 boys -- this particular finding is less than impressive. It is based on a subgroup of 360 children who said they weren't interested in being leaders, and who were asked about the reasons for this disinterest. "I do not want to seem bossy" was mentioned by 29 percent of the girls but only 13 percent of the boys. However, in the entire survey pool, girls were just as likely as boys to say that they wanted to be leaders and to agree that "I think of myself as a leader." They were also equally likely to describe themselves as "confident," "talented," and "strong."

Moreover, the girls in the survey were more likely than boys to report actual leadership experience. Thus, 31 percent of girls compared to 26 percent of boys said they had been the leader of a team for a school project; 13 percent of girls but 10 percent of boys had run for a class or school office. This is consistent with a vast amount of recent data showing that girls are outpacing boys on all sorts of academic and social measures.'