Why are women always muted?

"After months of working tirelessly… alone on a high-impact project, I watched in disbelief as my line manager handed the credit to a male colleague. He was junior to me, uninvolved, and knew nothing of the process. His qualification? He shared late nights and camaraderie with our male supervisor, which is a luxury I could not afford as a woman.

Because if I stay late, I'm judged. Accused of using my gender to 'get ahead.' When I finally spoke up and said the project was my brainchild, I was dismissed ...  not in private, but in front of the entire team, calling me out as an "too" emotional person at work. My work was erased. My voice was undermined. And my self-respect? Crushed.", Nahar (pseudonym), 

Which brings up a question. Why is it that when women achieve, the world so often looks away? From Nobel-worthy science to revolutionary political leadership, women's contributions are habitually silenced not by accident, but by design. In a world that celebrates power, women's success is too often reinterpreted as luck, humility, or background support.

"If society will not admit of woman's free development, then society must be remodelled," wrote Elizabeth Blackwell, the first woman to receive a medical degree in the US, in 1895. More than a century later, her words still echo. The silencing of women's achievements is not just a relic of the past ...  it's alive, updated, and algorithmically reinforced in our media, institutions, and minds.

Historical amnesia: Erasure by design

History is not neutral; it is curated. And for generations, it has curated women out. 

The Matilda Effect, coined by historian Margaret Rossiter, describes how women's scientific contributions are often attributed to male colleagues. Rosalind Franklin's crucial role in discovering DNA's structure was long overshadowed by Watson and Crick. Lise Meitner, co-discoverer of nuclear fission, was left out of the Nobel Prize awarded solely to Otto Hahn.

Even in revolutionary movements, women's stories fade first. "Women have always been an integral part of our struggle, but rarely the face of it," said Wangari Maathai, the Kenyan environmentalist and Nobel Peace Laureate. Why? Because systems that record history are often those least invested in equity.

Modern-Day silencing: The media mirror

Media remains one of the biggest amplifiers or silencers of recognition. A 2023 UNESCO report found that women make up only 24% of the people heard, read about, or seen in newspapers, television and radio news. The Women's Media Centre reported that male athletes receive up to 90% of sports media coverage and female athletes are more likely to be asked about outfits than tactics. 

As Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie bluntly stated, "We teach girls to shrink themselves, to make themselves smaller. We say to girls: 'You can have ambition, but not too much.'" That cultural script bleeds into headlines, interviews, and boardroom evaluations.

Structural bias: Citations, salaries and silence

Recognition isn't just public applause; it's professional capital. And women earn less of it. Women hold only 28% of the world's researchers, according to UNESCO (2022). A Nature study found female scientists are 30% less likely to be cited than men. As of September 2024, 10.4% of Fortune 500 CEOs are women, which represents 52 out of the 500 companies. 

The academy, the lab, the newsroom, and the parliament are all skewed. And when women do rise, they're judged differently. Research from Princeton found that assertive women in leadership are seen as "domineering," while their male counterparts are praised for decisiveness. 

As Michelle Obama once said, "I've been at every powerful table you can think of... and they're not that smart." Yet still, those tables rarely add extra chairs for women. We, as women, contribute our brainwork and dedication. Still, we keep witnessing the same pattern: men with access and familiarity to leadership receive the invitations, the training, the platforms, regardless of who actually built the work. We are the authors of ideas, the architects of impact, yet it is men with the right alliances who step into the spotlight. Our labour builds the stage, but too often, it is they who perform on it.

Can we actually do something about it?

The solution is not abstract. It is no longer enough to celebrate women on annual stages while sidelining them in daily lives. Every newsroom, boardroom, classroom, and committee must ask itself: Whose work is being spoken, and whose is being spoken over? 

Credit is not a courtesy — it is justice. And justice begins when we refuse to let women's achievements be footnoted into disappearance. To the men seated at the tables of power, don't applaud us in March and overlook us in meetings. Don't call us "emotional" when we claim our work. 

Don't say "we had no idea" when systems are designed for your convenience. If you are serious about change, use your influence to open doors, not guard them. Because silence is not neutrality, it is complicity. The question is no longer whether women can lead but whether leaders can listen.

Raisa Adiba is a development practitioner and social scientist with 7+ years of experience. 

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and views of The Business Standard.