To Girl Boss or Not to Girlboss: How Vocational Higher Education has Led to a Gendered Division of Labor
Faculty Mentor Information
Dr. Arthur Scarritt, Boise State University; and Dr. Michael Kreiter, Boise State University
Presentation Date
7-15-2026
Abstract
Higher education’s marketed promise has become the pursuit of equal opportunity through the obtainment of a college degree (Newfield 2016). Yet, as women have begun to dominate college enrollment (Hurst 2024), they continuously face sizeable rates of gendered inequalities and disparities upon graduation and when entering the workforce, as they are forced into one of two extremely limited roles. Through the incorporation of the vocationalization of women, American individualism, and hegemonic masculinity in the higher education model, results in the feminine ultimatum– to “girlboss” or “go home”.
Bullshit feminism is the ideology that addresses how university students have come to comprehend the term feminism as an individual concept rather than a structural critique, and thus equate female liberation with their ability to achieve a degree path associated with career-based success while attending college. Furthermore, bullshit feminism is centered around this hyper-individualization, vocationalized womanhood, and reinstatement of hegemonic masculinity– confidence and aggression, and is therefore able to achieve this greater “liberation” through occupational pride.
To Girl Boss or Not to Girlboss: How Vocational Higher Education has Led to a Gendered Division of Labor
Higher education’s marketed promise has become the pursuit of equal opportunity through the obtainment of a college degree (Newfield 2016). Yet, as women have begun to dominate college enrollment (Hurst 2024), they continuously face sizeable rates of gendered inequalities and disparities upon graduation and when entering the workforce, as they are forced into one of two extremely limited roles. Through the incorporation of the vocationalization of women, American individualism, and hegemonic masculinity in the higher education model, results in the feminine ultimatum– to “girlboss” or “go home”.
Bullshit feminism is the ideology that addresses how university students have come to comprehend the term feminism as an individual concept rather than a structural critique, and thus equate female liberation with their ability to achieve a degree path associated with career-based success while attending college. Furthermore, bullshit feminism is centered around this hyper-individualization, vocationalized womanhood, and reinstatement of hegemonic masculinity– confidence and aggression, and is therefore able to achieve this greater “liberation” through occupational pride.