Faith and rise

I was reading about women and careers the other day. It struck me that even now, in 2025, asking is still one of the hardest things.

Asking for a raise.
Asking for a promotion.
Sometimes even asking for help at home.

It’s not that women aren’t capable. We are, and the numbers prove it. Women are working, building careers, running companies, managing homes, raising families. More young women are entering the workforce than ever before. Globally, more women are graduating from universities than men.

And yet, when it comes to negotiation, when it comes to saying “I deserve this,” there is still hesitation.

Some of it comes from culture. Many of us grew up hearing, “Don’t ask too much. Be grateful for what you get.” Some of it comes from fear – “If I push, will they think I’m difficult? Will this cost me my chance?” And some of it is just habit. We’re used to quietly proving ourselves, hoping someone will notice.

But here’s what I’ve learned: hard work doesn’t always speak on its own. Effort doesn’t always get seen. Sometimes silence is comfortable for others – because it means they don’t have to change anything.

I think of the times I stayed quiet. Times I said, “It’s okay, maybe next year. Maybe they’ll see my value without me saying it.” And the truth? Many times, they didn’t.

It’s not easy to ask. It feels shaky. Your heart races, your mind tells you a hundred reasons to stay quiet. But asking is not about being ungrateful. It’s not about demanding more than you deserve. It’s about valuing yourself enough to say: “This matters to me.”

And yes, the system is still unfair. Studies show that even when women negotiate, they often get smaller raises than men. In India, women earn on average about 24% less than men in the same roles. Globally, women still earn about 82 cents for every $1 men earn. Over a lifetime, those small differences add up – sometimes to more than a million dollars lost.

That’s the real cost of silence.

But there’s also hope. I see more women talking openly about pay. I see younger women pushing back on the idea that asking makes you “too much.” I see small changes in workplaces – training managers to notice bias, making pay more transparent.

It may not be easy yet. Every single time one of us finds the courage to ask, we make it a little easier for the next person.

Because at the end of the day, asking is not just about money. It’s about self-respect. It’s about teaching our daughters and sons that worth is not something you wait for. You own it.

“You get in life what you have the courage to ask for.” – Oprah Winfrey

Maybe courage doesn’t mean we’re not afraid. Maybe courage means our voices still shake, but we speak anyway.

And maybe one day, asking won’t feel like such a heavy thing at all.