It used to make me feel small. I remember the very first time that I felt like I was at fault for who I am. I was running around the playground, playing tag with a group of kids from my first grade class. It hit my ears like a slap across the face, "You run like a girl."
My brothers said it to me all the time, "You hit like a girl." It wasn't until I was at least eight that I stopped hearing it as a negative. I started retaliating by saying, "You wish you did." It took a long time for me to be proud of the fact that I was a girl. For so long I had been put down for fighting like a girl or running like a girl. Then one day it just clicked, people were using my gender as an insult because they had no better comebacks.
Sure, I fight like a girl and I run like a girl, but last time I looked in the mirror I was a girl so it seems only fitting that I would act like one. I may wear dresses and heels, but until the day that a boy can do the same and look as graceful as I do, I don't see why being a girl is such an insult. I mean, I can go from make up on and a sundress to nikes and a t-shirt in the blink of an eye, and I'll look just as good in both.
In a country that is based on equal rights and fair treatment for everyone, women are still paid less than men. But the truth is, I don't care if I am paid less then the man next to me, as long as he is more qualified than I am. Even if he's not, I'll get over the fact that he makes more than me because I don't need to make as much as a man to know that I can be more successful than him. I'm a girl and I'll be dead before I let a man dictate how my life goes.
Sophia Amoruso said there are three rules to being a #GirlBoss: never grow up, don't become a bore, and never let the man win. She never graduated college. There are hundreds upon hundreds of men who have graduated college with business degrees, yet Ms. Amoruso has a net worth of $280 million. She owns a major clothing company, and never even got a business degree. So maybe the guy next to me is more qualified, but that doesn't mean I have to cower in his presence.
It's time to stop acting like the female gender is at a huge disadvantage because we make a few cents less than men. They can have the 21 cents for all I care because when they are working for me it won't matter. They can make 21 cents more, but when I am running a major business and walking around my office in stunning heels, nobody is going to be saying, "You work like a girl," they'll all just be wondering how I made it this far and looked this good doing it.
