A Century-Old Resilience
Equality loses its meaning the moment it is treated like a favor instead of a fact.
I grew up watching my mother transform from a pampered, studious girl into a woman shaped by struggle, resilience, and quiet strength. Marriage brought in battles she never signed up for, yet she endured, adapted, and became someone far stronger than circumstances intended.
Today, in my twenties, I don’t just see her as my mother, but as a living example of what silent strength looks like. Her journey is the reason I question why empowerment is still spoken of as something to be given to women.
“Give to Gain” sounds generous on the surface, but it quietly reinforces the idea that equality is a favor, not a right and that’s where it feels deeply unsettling.
And then there’s this oddly funny, slightly tragic thought I came across- how in the animal world, when a tiger attacks, no one pauses to say, “Oh, it was a female tiger, how embarrassing.”
It’s just a tiger. End of story.
But somehow, in the “more evolved” human world, we still manage to attach hierarchy and judgment to gender like it’s a personality trait.
Darkly ironic, isn’t it?
That we pride ourselves on intelligence, yet struggle with something as basic as seeing each other as equals. Maybe the real evolution we need isn’t intellectual, it’s perceptual.
Equality loses its meaning the moment it is treated like a favor instead of a fact.
Surabhi S ( Psychology Intern, The Orange Room)
