Using the word 'bossy' for girls can be quite harmful. What is that saying - that being focused, being assertive, being the boss has a negative attribute? And I have heard that term associated more with women than with men. 'He's so bossy' - you don't hear that. It's a very subtle thing.

Bryce Dallas Howard

When young women get called bossy, it's often because they're trying to exercise power without status. It's not a problem that they're being dominant; the backlash arises because they're overstepping their status.

Adam Grant

If we want girls to receive positive reinforcement for early acts of leadership, let's discourage bossy behavior along with banning bossy labels. That means teaching girls to engage in behaviors that earn admiration before they assert their authority.

Adam Grant

My friends say that at school I was quite bossy. I still am a bit bossy, but a nice bossy. I've always been very strong-minded, even as a little girl. But I'm a great friend, and I've never been in a fight in my life. I think it's nice to be nice, especially because I've never been scared to stick up for myself. I'm not a shrinking violet.

Alesha Dixon

I just love bossy women. I could be around them all day. To me, bossy is not a pejorative term at all. It means somebody's passionate and engaged and ambitious and doesn't mind leading.

Amy Poehler

Words like 'bossy,' 'shrill,' and 'moody' are used to describe women who speak up at work and give voice to their passion - but I believe this negative commentary is meant to keep critical thinkers quiet.

Ana Kasparian

My father had all these great names for our cows. Bossy and Daisy and Petunia and Turnip. One of my jobs was to round up the cows before milking. I'd go out back with the dog and bring them in.

Bobbie Ann Mason

Using the word 'bossy' for girls can be quite harmful. What is that saying - that being focused, being assertive, being the boss has a negative attribute? And I have heard that term associated more with women than with men. 'He's so bossy' - you don't hear that. It's a very subtle thing.

Bryce Dallas Howard

My generation of bossy, confident, baby-boom women were something brand new in history. Our energy and assertiveness weren't created by Betty Friedan, unknown before her 1963 book, or by Gloria Steinem, whose political activism, as even the Lifetime profile admitted, did not begin until 1969.

Camille Paglia

I have this idea of myself as this quiet, observant, thoughtful child, which my parents roundly contradict. They claim that I was loud and bossy and dancing all the time.

Carrie Coon

I was always bossy as a kid. I made my friends do shows that I wrote and would take them on tour from house to house.

Casey Nicholaw

I remember growing up and feeling all the time not pretty enough, too rude, too loud, taking too much space because precisely I wanted to maybe be bossy and loud and unapologetic and not really smooth all the time, and those were not really qualities that were valued for me.

Christine and the Queens

You come across words all the time that are everyday sexism. I was described as 'competently bossy' and 'bossily competent' by a male journalist, and I thought, 'Gosh, 'bossy' is never used of a man.'

Clare Balding

I remember, when I was 6 years old, we were having an event at school where different dolls were on display. I said that the tallest doll needed to be on the end, and my little friend said to me, 'Oh, you're just so bossy.' I remember thinking that wasn't a good thing. But I kept insisting the doll had to be on the end anyway.

Condoleezza Rice

I can't tell you how many times I heard from younger sisters that their older sisters were bossy and judgmental.

Deborah Tannen

I was very keen. I was super-eager to please and be good. And I was always kind of bossy.

Emma Watson

I'm the oldest of three girls. My sisters say I can be bossy.

Gayle King

Sometimes it's isolating, but just being in the music industry that is just dominated by men, I think it means I have to be comfortable and confident in myself and not really care that people think I'm bossy and opinionated and also try and balance that energy.

Goapele

I'm not quite that difficult, even though maybe I'm a little bit bossy. But you know, in order to get things done, you do have to be a little bit bossy sometimes or tell people what you really want. Otherwise, things just don't get done, do they?

Heidi Klum

I'm a boss by nature. I'm bossy. I'm not imperious, but I don't really want people to curtsy low before me and back out of rooms, but I do like to run things.

Helen Hayes

Keeping a feminine approach is vital - men hate bossy females.

Ida Lupino