THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Chief Secretary Sarada Muraleedharan’s open social media post on a discriminatory remark she faced, apparently due to skin colour and gender, has sparked debates on deep-rooted biases in society. 

In a Facebook post, she recounted an offhand remark comparing her tenure to that of her predecessor V Venu, who’s also her husband.

“Heard an interesting comment yesterday on my stewardship as chief secretary -that it is as black as my husband’s was white,” she wrote.

Initially, overwhelmed by responses, she deleted the post. However, she later decided to repost it, believing the issue deserved attention.

“It was about being labelled black (with that quiet subtext of being a woman), as if that were something to be desperately ashamed of,” she wrote.

Even as conversations about self-acceptance and representation are all over the place, the roots of colourism ans gender bias remain stubbornly deep. We still live in a world where a woman in power can be reduced to the colour of her skin. Where a child can wish to be ‘born all white and pretty.’ Where success is still painted in shades of fair.

These biases continue, often disguised as casual remarks, sometimes as a conversation starter, phrases like “കറുത്തു പോയല്ലോ” (You’ve darkened) or “കറുത്തതാണെങ്കിലും സൗന്ദര്യം ഉണ്ട്” (She’s beautiful despite being dark).