In a start-up economic system of self-described “boss babes,” Ashley Sumner needs to be recognized in less complicated phrases.

While on a run close to her residence in the Venice neighborhood of Los Angeles in early March, Ms. Sumner was serious about id and the peppy phrases that feminine professionals use to describe themselves on-line: “girl bosses” and the like.

“I worry about the negative impact of that,” Ms. Sumner, 32, stated. “I worry that it allows investors to see founders who are women as a separate class from the rest of the founders. I worry it allows investors to write women founders smaller checks. I do believe that women need to help inspire other women but also that identity can be used as labels to separate us.”

Ms. Sumner is the chief govt officer of Quilt, an audio platform for conversations about self-care matters like wellness in the office, PTSD and astrology. (In prepandemic days, the firm organized work gatherings and group discussions in individuals’s houses.)

She has felt marginalized in the girl part of founders’ circles. “I am always asked to speak on the female founders panel,” Ms. Sumner stated. “I want to be asked to speak on the panel.”

Since she is in the dialogue enterprise, she questioned if she may begin one with the central query. “When is labeling in support and celebration of furthering our mission of equality successful and when is it ‘othering’ and hurting our mission?”

She ran residence, sat sweatily at her pc, banged out a couple of phrases and overlaid them on {a photograph} of herself. “I am a female founder,” she typed, then dramatically crossing out the phrase “female” and including a caption that learn partially: “putting my gender in front of what I am belittles what I’ve accomplished.”

Ms. Sumner isn’t significantly lively on Instagram or Twitter. On LinkedIn, she had by no means executed greater than repost another person’s articles or musings. But on condition that platform’s deal with skilled life, she thought it was an affordable place to first share her handiwork.

Ms. Sumner’s submit has drawn almost 20,000 feedback, from women and men in the United States, Australia, Africa, Latin America, India and past; from executives, development staff, well being care staff, professors and navy professionals.

After studying it, Kate Urekew, the founding father of Revel Experiences, a advertising and marketing agency in Boston, contacted three profitable enterprise house owners she is aware of to ask them what they suppose. Each stated there’s not but sufficient illustration of girls in management ranks to ignore the gender disparities. “In order to change things and truly achieve parity,” stated Ms. Urekew, 50, “you need to have more visibility for other women.”

She added: “I love that she started this discussion, it opened up my eyes to many more aspects.”

In one thing of a rarity for a viral social media submit, particularly one about id, the feedback mirror a spread of views and are largely civil.

“That’s what we all need to hear,” one man wrote. “Too much identity politics leads to confirmation bias.”

“I don’t feel we are there yet,” a girl wrote. “We are still at a point where we are trying to get equal footing, and that takes awareness, doesn’t it?”

“Succeeding in the business world means you are accomplishing a great thing and in some cases outperforming a male,” a person wrote.

More than 150 feminine founders posted comparable images of themselves, crossing out the phrase “female,” after which shared what was now credibly a meme on the web.

One was Antoinetta Mosley, the founding father of I Follow the Leader, a consulting agency that makes a speciality of variety, fairness and inclusion technique, initiatives and schooling in Durham, N.C. “It was a little shocking at first, to see ‘female’ crossed out,” she stated of Ms. Sumner’s submit. “I immediately clicked to see what she said, and I thought it was really striking.”

Ms. Mosley, 34, stated in the unconscious bias seminars she leads, she asks individuals to think about the manner race, gender and different traits affect narratives about individuals’s skilled expertise and the way they will perpetuate inequities. “When people see me as a Black woman leader,” she stated, “they are assuming that my being Black and a woman influence my leadership style.”

She believes these labels can generally maintain ladies again from being thought of on equal footing to males. She stated that being a Black girl is a major a part of her id, however she, like most individuals, has much more dimensions. She believes her skilled traits outcome most from being an athlete and the oldest of 4 youngsters with pushed dad and mom.

Faryl Morse, 55, who owns the footwear firm Faryl Robin, was additionally moved to make her personal post, itemizing the social media lingo of “Boss Babe,” “WomEntrepreneur,” “Girl Boss” and “Mompreneur.”

“Let’s please stop adding these cute names to women who are ambitious and are going after their dreams with persistence,” she wrote. “It is not empowering any woman.”

Ms. Morse needs different ladies to see her success and know that they can also aspire to personal and function a thriving enterprise in a male dominated business, and she or he believes that being a girl offers her a special and precious perspective. “But I am not a woman founder,” she stated. “I am a founder. End of conversation. Gender should not be descriptive in the world we live in today. It doesn’t define me professionally.”

Rayy Babalola, the founding father of the Agile Squad, a venture administration and consulting agency in Kent, England, was captivated by the responses on LinkedIn however says that it’s not really easy for everybody to drop the labels and neglect the battle and perseverance required to discover skilled success.

Ms. Babalola, 30, believes that to name herself a Black girl enterprise founder conveys that she has overcome the twin obstacles of sexism and racism. And she feels a duty to sign to different Black ladies that they can also have a path to enterprise possession.

“Being a Black woman has affected how I have been treated, and that has pushed me to become a founder,” she stated. “And you can’t be selfish,” she stated. “Just because you found a way doesn’t mean that it’s OK, now you can be silent.”

She thinks identifiers like “female founder” and “Black-owned business” are nonetheless necessary. “Until those terms stop rattling minds,” she stated, they want to be used to remind the world that they continue to be one thing of a novelty and in the minority.

Nikki Thompson, of Overland Park, Kan., stated she by no means shares her opinion on social media however when she got here throughout Ms. Sumner’s submit, she couldn’t cease herself. “Labeling perpetuates the differences we should be seeking to resolve,” she wrote.

As a registered nurse, Ms. Thompson’s tasks embrace persevering with schooling coaching and paperwork for sufferers, and lots of kinds ask about race, gender, generational demographics, faith and ethnicity. She understands that knowledge assortment is important when it pertains to prognosis and remedy of sickness. But she questions the worth of that knowledge assortment in the many different sides of every day life. (Ms. Thompson was completely happy to reply the query of her age — she is going to flip 41 subsequent week — however famous that labeling individuals’s age is a part of the drawback.)

“What if we drop the labels, maybe the biases would subside,” she stated. “This is a daily thing in my career, and I think a lot about words and bias and unconscious bias and how we might decrease it.” (She additionally stated that the pendulum can swing each methods: She has heard family say of her male friends, “I had a male nurse and he was very good.”)

Surprised by the response to her submit, Ms. Sumner acknowledged that a lot of her experiences are influenced by being a white girl, “with all the privilege that entails,” she stated. “But how do I see myself? How do I identify? As a founder, and as someone who starts discussions.”