NEW DELHI, March 11 -- Another Women's Day has come and gone. Within the privileged echelons of Indian society, conversations about women's empowerment often remain trapped in the web of symbolism, failing to dismantle the very foundations of our societal edifice. It is time to transcend token gestures and plunge into the depths of transformation.

Our Women's Day rituals-those well-rehearsed performances of outrage, the discounts, and the hashtags-often mask our more profound anxieties. We celebrate femininity while harbouring a fear of its potency. We advocate for respect toward all women in public, but in private, we subtly redefine "respectable" to fit our comfort zones. It is time to ask: Can we genuinely bring feminity into our coun...