Equal on Paper

They say the office is balanced now, a perfect line drawn down the page. Titles match, voices echo the same, at least in the script we’re all handed. But in the quiet between meetings, you hear the truth breathe differently. A nod lasts longer for one than the other, a suggestion weighs more in one voice. Still, we stand in the same fluorescent light, sharpening our edges with steady hands, carrying competence like a second heartbeat, refusing to shrink to fit the margins. Equality may be printed in bold, but we write the real version each day— in the way we show up, speak up, and refuse to be edited out.