My brother and I were the only children of our parents for about eight years of my life, and all those years and even till my adult years, I never felt like I was different from him. I heard comments like, "sit like a girl", "don't act like a boy", but none of them registered in my mind as discrimination.
I had always believed—and still believe—that if I work hard, I will get a reward for it, just like any of my (male) colleagues. That was the model used in schools—primary, secondary and universities—study and pass your exams.
But after I got my first job, the lines were not so clear anymore; you could be in a team and work hard, even harder than your peers and not get promoted. Then I started to hear stories of women expected to do much more than their male counterparts to get only
