The campaign claims that terms like "bossy" are disproportionately applied to females, preventing schoolgirls from seeing themselves as future "leaders". From its inception the word has been associated more with women than with men. It first appeared in 1882, according to the OED, mentioning "a lady manager who was dreadfully bossy". It's telling that Little Miss Bossy doesn't have a Mr Men equivalent in Roger Hargreaves's children's series. As late as 2008, the word appeared in reference to females four times more often than males, claim the Ban Bossy campaigners. "To me, the reference is always in association with women," says Helen Trim, director of recruiting firm FreshMinds. "I have three brothers and my family still call me 'bossy' today." Her father is the only other family member who could be considered in that way, says Trim, but nobody would ever call him so. "He was a male, he was expected to lead and be the leader of his family."