India, March 9 -- Every year on International Women's Day, the conversation around women's empowerment follows a familiar script. We celebrate women who have shattered glass ceilings, built successful businesses, and balanced demanding careers with family life.

Then come the advertisements showcasing women confidently navigating both office corridors and household chores. These narratives are inspiring and necessary. They signal progress and possibility. Yet they also reveal a subtle bias in how empowerment is imagined.

The dominant image of the empowered woman today is that of the professional woman, financially independent and visible in the marketplace. But this narrative leaves out hundreds of thousands of women whose labour sustain...