Women who scored higher on cognitive tests were rated as more hostile by teammates and got less help from them, in studies of 432 US business students and 394 Chinese finance workers, a pattern that did not hold for men

“One is not born, but rather becomes a woman.” The famous quote was written by Simone de Beauvoir, a French author, academician and feminist. The quote captures the struggle of women to fit into roles defined by society rather than being allowed to shape their own identities and ambitions.

From the way they are expected to walk to how they are expected to look and behave, everything is predetermined by society, and women even today continue to navigate through the expectations that men do not always face in the same way.If you are one of those who think these were the talks of older times, then you might want to reconsider. According to the Women in the Workplace Progress Report 2026, 49% of professional women cited company culture as the single greatest barrier to their career progression, surpassing pay disparity and direct promotion structural hurdles.

Someone once said that the world is not made for women; they just learnt to walk through it.