Chic in China - Do You Really Have To Be a BITCH To Succeed?

Do You Really Have To Be a BITCH To Succeed?

There is a dog eat dog world out there ladies, there is no denying that you have to be tough to get somewhere in life. Not only do us women have a tendency to be better at bringing each other down than we are at supporting our fellow females, and on top of that, we have to try and make it in a world that is already mostly run by men. But slowly, slowly, we are breaking that glass ceiling, and some fields are almost completely dominated by women. Just looking around where I am sitting right now, at my desk in the office, there are more women than men. But how do you make it then? Do you have to play hardball to be taken seriously? Do you have to “grow some balls” to be accepted as “one of the guys”? Do you have to step over your fellow women in 4 inch stilettos to get ahead? And do you really have to be a BITCH to succeed?

Bitch, bitch, bitch – it is such an overused word right now, and with so many different meanings. Unfortunately in a business kind of environment “bitch” tend to have a bad meaning. You will never hear a man in a power position, making tough choices, playing hard ball and maybe not always being liked because of it, getting called bitch behind his back. But a woman in a power position will very quickly be label a bitch for acting the exact same way the man does, even though the way she acts is purely professional.

So what are we to do? Is the solution to grab on to the “bitch-label and embrace it before someone uses it against us? I mean, I rather be a “boss bitch” by choice than having the label “bitch” thrown upon me just for being tough and trying to make a career. Because honestly, no matter how nice of a person you actually are you cannot be nice to everyone, and even if you could, people would still find something to complain about, you can’t satisfy everyone.

But looking away from the “bitch label” itself, what does it actually mean to be a bitch in the business world? That you will step over anyone to get to the top, that life is a game and you will play, if not always by the rules, that you are giving of an attitude that say; “If you get to close I will cut you.” Or is it about being confident in yourself and your job, work hard in everything you do, don't let anyone stand in your way, but refuse to build your success on someone else’s failure.

Whether or not you decide to embrace the title of bitch and all that comes with it, just make sure to decide on what it for you means to be a bitch. There are both good and bad ways to be one, don’t let the word define who you really want to be. As many labels in life, they stick, so don't just yet use it as your signature.