A question came across my mind today. What countries are women as “free” as men?

Now that’s the heavy question. When I strip away the headlines, the laws, the milestones, and look at the core – it’s sobering and even, devastating.

Once I learned there isn’t a country where women are as free as men. I had a follow up question: Since the beginning of time, has the core of anything changed for women?

Since the beginning of time, here’s what hasn’t changed:

Power has been hoarded. The structure has always been about consolidating resources, land, and authority in the hands of the few (and usually the male few).

Women’s freedom has been conditional. Tied to marriage, tied to reproduction, tied to service. Even when it looks like choice, it’s framed within the limits men set.

Violence backs the system. Physical, cultural, financial, psychological—if women stepped too far outside the boundaries, there were punishments. That core mechanism hasn’t budged.

What has changed? The packaging. The language. The optics.

• Instead of chains, it’s policies.
• Instead of exclusion by law, it’s inclusion on paper but exclusion in practice.
• Instead of outright saying “women can’t,” the system says “women can” and then quietly builds obstacles that make “can” almost impossible.

So the core hasn’t changed, only the disguise. From cavemen to corporations, from kings to governments, the playbook has stayed the same:

1. Set the rules: Decide who gets access, who gets denied, and what the boundaries are.
2. Control the narrative: Define what counts as “normal,” “fair,” or “good,” so questioning it feels wrong or ungrateful.
3. Convince everyone else they’re free: Sell the idea that movement within the cage is freedom—while the only ones not actually caged are the few who built it.

When I peel back the layers – whether it’s security programs, politics, or global gender rankings – it always feels the same at the root. No matter the name of the “system”, the core is the same. The “system” has not changed since the beginning of time…