Growing up, many of us were taught to believe that the world is round, that it is fair. Stories told us that hard work is always rewarded, that everyone has equal opportunities, and that justice always prevails in the end. The media we consumed, the narratives that surrounded us, and the lessons that we learned painted a picture of a perfectly round world—literally and figuratively. 

But as we grow older, reality begins to unravel something different.

On paper, the world tells us that equality exists. Laws promise it, institutions promote it, and slogans celebrate it. Yet for us women, equality still feels like a promise waiting to be fulfilled. Equality is still almost impossible—suntok sa buwan.

International Women’s Day is often marked with flowers, hashtags, and speeches about empowerment. But behind these gestures lies a reality that many women navigate every day: a world that still makes it easier to be a man.

It is easy to be a man when walking home alone at night does not feel like a calculated risk. When wearing what you want is not interpreted as an invitation. When your competence is assumed before you even speak.

For us women, the day begins with quiet negotiations. Which route is the safest? What outfit is not “too much”? Should I speak up or will I be labeled as difficult?

These are not dramatic moments or petty little things that our “overthinking minds made up.” These questions are small, constant calculations rooted from years of navigating through misogyny and sexism that society often treats as normal. 

Misogyny rarely arrives loudly. More often than not, it disguises itself as jokes that women are told to laugh at, interruptions in functions that women are expected to tolerate, and doubts about women’s expertise that men rarely put up with. Why is it that a man’s confidence is praised, while a woman’s confidence is questioned?

In classrooms, meetings, online spaces, and even spaces we thought were safe, women are asked to prove themselves twice as much for half the recognition. When they’ve achieved something, their success is often framed as surprise—as if their excellence was unexpected.

And at the start of women’s month, the country witnessed a reminder of how casually women are still reduced to objects of male commentary.

During a congressional hearing, Quezon City Representative Bong Suntay sparked backlash after spewing lewd remarks about actress Anne Curtis in the middle of a legal discussion. The lawmaker’s statement drew condemnation for turning a woman into a mere object used to satisfy men’s fantasies. Worse, it happened in a formal government setting.

If a man can casually sexualize a woman on national television, in the middle of a congressional hearing, imagine what he feels entitled to say—or do—when the cameras are off, especially when he is in a room full of his fellow men.

It did not end there. Lawyer Ferdinand Topacio later defended the remarks and made controversial statements of his own, even admitting that he had once felt lustful towards Gabriela Representative Sarah Elago and arguing that men naturally experience such desires.

Progressive women’s groups, lawmakers, and the public quickly condemned these crude comments, describing them as misogynistic and degrading—especially troubling during Women’s Month, when the country is supposed to be recognizing women’s rights and uplifting their dignity. 

What makes these incidents disturbing is not just what was said. It is how familiar they sound. Because for many women, being reduced to a punchline, a fantasy, an object for sexual desire, or a spectacle is nothing new. It happens in offices, on streets, in classrooms, and now, in the halls of power. It’s what women have to put up with daily.

It is so easy to be a man when your words aren’t being used against you. When your word is the law and no one ever questions it. When your ambition is seen as domination instead of arrogance. When your anger is considered as passion for what you do rather than emotional instability. When your voice is heard without having the need to raise the volume. 

And yet they claim, “women are emotional”.

Women, meanwhile, continue to live carrying the burdens that society quietly places on their shoulders. Women are expected to be strong but not too strong, outspoken but not too outspoken, and independent but still accommodating. 

And when women speak about discrimination, they are often told they are exaggerating. That sexism no longer exists. That they should simply work harder and meet society’s expectations for them.

But the truth still remains that the problem has never been about working harder. Women have always worked harder—at work, at home, and in spaces where their hustle is rarely acknowledged.

Women’s Day is not only about celebrating women’s achievements, though there are countless victories worth celebrating. It is also about recognizing the systems that continue to make the playing field uneven, the systems that continue to fail millions of women, and the systems that make it hard to be a woman. It is these very struggles that prove why Women’s Month exists—not simply as a celebration, but as a reminder of the realities women continue to face and the progress that still needs to be made to dismantle the very root cause of these struggles.

The point is not to say that men never struggle. They do. Life is really complex, and hardship does not belong to one gender alone.

But men, they rarely have to carry the additional weight of sexism laid out on top of every challenge.

They rarely have to wonder if an opportunity was denied because of their gender. They rarely have to think about which route to take for they feel unsafe walking alone at night.

But for many women, these questions have become part of everyday life. Asking these questions to themselves has become their second nature.

So when women say, “it’s so easy being a man,” it is not an accusation. It is a reminder of the privileges men are able to enjoy because women are thrown under the rug for it. 

“It’s so easy being a man” is a reminder of the privileges that often go unnoticed by those who benefit from them.

Because recognizing privilege is not about assigning guilt and pointing who’s who. It is about acknowledging differences and realities.

And once these realities are acknowledged, only then change becomes possible. 

Until the day comes when women can walk, work, and live without the silent negotiations that shape their lives, International Women’s Month will remain more than just a festivity.

It will remain a call—to listen, to reflect, to act, and to build a world where being a woman is no longer a disadvantage.

Perhaps then, the phrase “it’s so easy being a man” will finally lose its meaning.