However, some believe that individual women's achievements can still be praised, and that this is not mutually exclusive with also working toward better workplaces and positive change on the societal level.
[7] Later in 2020, the George Floyd protests saw a number of high-profile women executives resign after accusations of creating toxic and racist workplaces.
[8] Judy Berman of Time stated that the rise of anti-capitalist sentiment among youth had turned the term "into a joke, a meme, something hopelessly cheugy.
"[13] Alex Abad-Santos of Vox argued that the term has "shifted culturally from a noun to a verb, one that described the sinister process of capitalist success and hollow female empowerment," pointing to the parody phrase "Gaslight, Gatekeep, Girlboss.
"[14][15] In 2021, some social media influencers attempted to redefine the term as "a sort of post-ironic area in which female evil is celebrated", such as over the trial of Elizabeth Holmes.
"[23] Hannah Ewens of Vice noted that, although the idea is one of the 2010s, its roots go back to the 1980s: "The Working Woman of the Thatcher and Reagan era, strutting in wearing her power suit, had both the boss and the baby on a leash".
[24] Ewens highlighted Paris Hilton, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jessica Alba and Sarah Michelle Gellar as examples of girlbosses.
[8] Former Teen Vogue executive editor Samhita Mukhopadhyay argued that "for women, navigating the workplace has always been about figuring out which tropes to avoid – we quickly learn not to be the doormat or the shrew, the secretary or the nag – and it seemed as though the death of the girlboss had set another trap.