That a top bureaucrat must contend with such biases shows that no one is safe; Muraleedharan may not even be the only woman of prominence to be subjected to deep gender and colour biases. If social media accounts of women across sectors detailing how their work was judged through the lens of gender or how they were personally treated because of their skin colour are an indicator of prevalence, private conversations about these would certainly form an overwhelming number. That said, a top government officer openly talking about these biases — Muraleedharan owned her “blackness” and said she was proud of it — and their intersection should start a larger conversation about them and their conspicuous and veiled manifestation in daily life.

There has been a visible change over the decades, evident in “fairness creams” being forced to rebrand, women hired in jobs traditionally seen as male domains, etc, but the gulf that remains to be bridged is not small either. There are conscious expressions of gender and colour biases, such as in the present instance, which are easier to spot, call out, and resist. And there are unintentional, internalised expressions. Both stand in the way of having a just, equitable society. Muraleedharan’s account, hopefully, will strengthen the efforts to eliminate these prejudices. More power to her.