By Kesaobaka Pelokgale
We have become a society afraid to question, afraid because of “Cancel culture“, understand that I am a firm believer in equality, but woke culture should not distort the meaning of true progress. I grew up watching my mother, move through life like a force of nature, unyielding, resolute, and proud. She didn’t get where she is because someone handed her a seat at the table or because of hollow policies. No, her triumphs are carved from years of struggle, sweat, and sacrifice. I remember her late nights,alone, bent over worn papers, the faint glow of those weird lights she bought from China Shops, the only witness to her battle. She wasn’t a token. She wasn’t a checkbox. She was a warrior who earned every inch of her ground. Her story is no different from those of many other champion women.
This is what true empowerment looks like.
And yet today, I ask myself, and I ask you, are we diluting this legacy? Are we replacing struggle with entitlement? Are we telling our daughters that success is a right to be given instead of a mountain to be climbed?
Do we raise them to expect a path smoothed by quotas and policies? Because, as a father, this unsettles me deeply. Is that the world I want for my daughter? One where victories come easy, and character takes a back seat?
Character is not built in comfort. It is forged in fire,in the heat of obstacles, the smoke of sacrifice, and the scars earned from pushing past failure.
There is a danger in comfort. It lulls ambition to sleep. When equality becomes a box to tick, when inclusion is reduced to a quota, we teach a dangerous lie: that effort is optional, that merit is negotiable.
We risk creating not empowered women, but complacency disguised as progress.
This is not progress!!
Real empowerment is raw and relentless. It respects the journey as much as the destination. It refuses shortcuts and empty gestures.
My mother’s story, and the stories of countless women like her, remind us that strength is not given; it is earned.
We must resist the temptation to force equality into neat boxes. Equality is not a product to be packaged and delivered; it is a living, breathing challenge. It unsettles the comfortable. It demands our best selves. It asks us to grow.
The risk of forcing equality is that we turn a noble goal into a hollow ritual. We breed resentment in those who feel unearned privilege and mediocrity in those denied the crucible of challenge.
We lose sight of the very essence of empowerment: the triumph of character.
At the heart of this struggle lies a simple truth: character is the only true currency. It cannot be granted, borrowed, or bought. It is earned through the hard work of standing tall when the world pushes you down. It is shaped by the choices we make in the face of adversity.
So I ask you,if true equality demands discomfort, if it asks us to reject the easy path, are we prepared to pay that price? Are we willing to teach our daughters that empowerment is not a gift, but a responsibility? That strength is not handed down, but wrestled from life’s challenges?
Because anything less than this is a betrayal. A betrayal of those who fought before us, and a disservice to those who will come after.
And where does this leave our sons?
Do we raise them to feel entitled to privilege? To be exempt from struggle? Or do we challenge them to be better men,not through inherited power or blind entitlement, but through integrity, discipline, and humility?
True equality demands that our sons and daughters alike learn the value of effort. That they understand the dignity in hard work and the grace in perseverance.
Raising sons who are comfortable with discomfort,who know that real strength is gentleness forged in discipline,is just as vital as empowering daughters.
Because a society that demands easy victories from one gender and relentless struggle from another is no society at all. It is fractured.
If we are to move forward, we must reject easy narratives and empty tokens. We must teach our sons and daughters alike that empowerment is hard. That equality is messy. That the prize is never given,it is earned, over and over again.
This is not a rejection of progress, but a call for honesty.
A call to stop confusing equality with entitlement.
A call to reclaim the soul of empowerment,grounded in merit, struggle, and character.
So, I challenge you,whether you are a parent, a leader, or a thinker,to stop seeking comfort in easy answers. Ask yourself: Are we building strength, or are we breeding complacency?
Are we raising a generation that will stand tall because they earned their place? Or one that will stumble because they expected it handed to them?
Because in the end, equality is not a destination. It is a fire.
And every day, it demands to be stoked,not with comfort, but with courage.
If you take nothing else from this, take this:
Character is not a gift. It is earned. The only true equality is the equality of effort.
And that is the standard worth fighting
Let the fire burn 🔥🔥
Finance Corner With Pelokgale 