23 of the best 'tell me you're a woman without telling me you're a woman' tweets

Editor's note: This article was originally published on April 16, 2021. It has since been updated.

While most of the world would like to believe we've attained the heights of gender equality, the reality is quite far from it. Every day, women across the globe deal with a range of threats and challenges that might not be evident to those who've never had to experience it from a very young age. This is what Twitter user Gayatri highlighted when she started a powerful thread where she asked women to tell her they're women "without telling me you're a woman." Gayatri took the lead, sharing: "When I walk in a dark lane, I mentally am aware of the escape routes."

"It's always assumed that my political views are borrowed from my dad or my partner and that I'm generally gullible," she added. "If I step out by myself, I double triple-check the clothes I'm wearing to see if I can be considered improper or revealing." Speaking to Bored Panda, Gayatri explained that she often talks about women's life and workplace experiences on Twitter. "I started this thread as a way for women to share their experiences and the prejudices they face in everyday life. The answers showed that women all over the country and world even had the same experiences. We fought the same battles," she said.

Many women responded to Gayatri's tweet, sharing their uniquely "female" experiences that highlight how far we are yet to go in the fight for gender equality. Here are 23 of the most powerful responses: 

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Gayatri shared that one of the main things she was able to grasp from the responses to her thread is that rights and reality are two very different things. "Instead of asking women what needs to change about women's rights, I think what needs to change is the perception of men. Women are still looked at as inferior beings who need to be told what to do and how to live every single day," she said.

6.

7.

8.

9.

"Men need to actively listen to women, overcome their biases and age-old mental conditioning, and treat women as equals. These discourses are being labeled feminism and the women who talk about this, are feminists. But if you think about it, all women want is to be left alone and not be told by men how to lead their lives," Gayatri added.

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

15.

While most of the tweets in the thread are from Indian women, writer and founder of "Voice of Salam" Elizabeth Arif-Fear said that even in the West, women face sexist attitudes, harassment and barriers to entry both inside and outside the workplace because of their gender. To solve these issues, we need to "dismantle gender-based stereotypes about gender roles," push for "full parity in dividing unpaid work at home with their partners," and report incidents of harassment and "illegal questioning of their marital status in job interviews," she said.

16.

17.

18.

19.

20.

"Ladies, you can do it! Please believe in yourself!" Arif-Fear said. "Likewise, partners need to do their share at home, colleagues should check their attitudes (e.g. sexist comments), not mansplain in meetings, and managers and employers should ensure that they are creating fair equal opportunities and spaces at the table. Consideration for those with childcare responsibilities is also important."

21. 

22.

23.