THE FUSE

Walk into any conference hall today and you’ll find the same scene repeated like theatre:
A panel of “empowered women,” dressed in authority and designer suits, speaking passionately about equality under chandeliers and champagne. They speak of breaking glass ceilings, of “being the change,” of their journey to the top.

But something is wrong with this picture.

Because when the lights dim and the applause fades, these women often disappear — leaving the women they claim to represent exactly where they were: unseen, unheard, untouched by the empowerment being preached on stage.

Let’s stop pretending. Much of what we celebrate today as feminism is polished branding, not liberation.
It is empowerment packaged for marketing departments, for LinkedIn posts, for keynote reels. It is feminism that flatters the already-powerful, while offering crumbs to everyone else.

And the women doing the real labor?
The housekeepers cleaning those hotel halls.
The service workers who can’t afford a sick day.
The single mothers fighting through rent, childcare, and survival.

They are never invited onto the stage.
Not for panels. Not for photo-ops. Not for recognition.

They are invisible — even inside a movement meant for them.

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Corporate Feminism Isn’t Feminism. It’s PR.

I’ve seen it up close.
I run a social enterprise that hires and uplifts women, pays them above industry standards, and builds real livelihoods — not slogans. And in all this work, do you know who I rarely see standing beside us?

The same elite voices loudly preaching empowerment.

They will speak on panels, but not show up in community.
They will hashtag solidarity, but not fund it.
They will celebrate progress, but never share power.

When donations do appear, they come like performance — publicity dressed as generosity.
A million-dollar earner cutting a $10,000 cheque for a gala charity dinner is not transformation. It is public relations with a halo. It buys a plaque, a photo, and applause — but not meaningful change for women who need it most.

This is not empowerment.
It is self-promotion with lipstick.
It is exploitation dressed in sisterhood vocabulary.
It is a movement intended for liberation, turned into a stage for personal glory.

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Real Feminism Requires Sacrifice

Feminism was never meant to be a spotlight. It was meant to be a ladder — one that we climb together, rung by rung.

Real empowerment is not:

hashtags
panels in five-star hotels
one percent charity wrapped in a press release
corporate slogans about diversity and inclusion

Real empowerment looks like:

redistribution of opportunity
equitable hiring and fair wages
mentorship for women without access
funding grassroots initiatives instead of photo-ops
giving up space so others can rise

Empowerment that never leaves the boardroom is not empowerment at all.
It is theatre.

Until we call out this hypocrisy, feminism will remain a convenient tool for the privileged — a badge to wear, not a bridge to build.

So to those who treat feminism like branding:
Keep the speeches. Keep the slogans. Keep the glossy conferences.

Because feminism without sacrifice is not liberation.
It is self-serving theatre.

And women at the bottom deserve more than a performance —
they deserve power, dignity, agency, and a seat at the table.