PERSONHOOD OVER GENDER

 In every industry—from the construction site to the courtroom—we are surrounded by a vocabulary of the past. We hear terms like manpower, foreman, and man-hours. While many dismiss these as "just words," they are actually the lingering echoes of a world that once decided men were the sole architects of business and society.

​We are finally witnessing a shift. In progressive circles, "manpower" is becoming person-power, "foreman" is becoming supervisor, and "man-hours" are becoming person-hours. This isn't just about being "correct"; it’s about acknowledging that expertise does not have a gender.

​However, we are also facing a fierce "pushback." There are still those who insist that being a man is synonymous with power and supervision. In my own journey through law, medicine, and finance, I have seen men in critical positions use their gender as an excuse to "teach a woman a lesson," or worse, to sabotage her work because they believe power is a male birthright.

​For years, I wondered where this desperate need for dominance came from. I eventually realized that this mentality starts long before a man enters an office. It begins in the home.

​In many societies, women still live in male-dominated environments where marriage is treated like a hierarchy rather than a partnership. When a man is raised to believe he must be the "boss" of his home without question, he naturally tries to control the women in his professional life under the guise of "manpower."

​The most frustrating part of this journey has been the judgment I faced after my separation. I encountered a "shallow group" of people—both men and women—who tried to evaluate my life based on the absence of a man. To them, a woman living without a man is "weak," "needy," or "desperate."

​Even more insulting is the "Mystery Man" myth: the idea that if a woman is successful, her accomplishments must secretly be credited to a man behind the scenes. This is a deliberate attempt to prove that women are incapable of holding power on their own.

​The interference these groups try to run in our lives—the constant questioning of our strength and the credit given to men for our hard work—is more than just an annoyance. It is a form of harassment.

​We are not "needy" because we are alone; we are powerful because we have chosen to define ourselves. It is time we retire the vocabulary of the past and start recognizing power for what it truly is: a matter of character and skill, not a gendered legacy.