India, Feb. 29 -- I came across a comment recently on my Twitter (now X) feed that got me thinking. It was a post about stay-at-home moms and someone commented, "We shouldn't judge their decision to stay home. It's their choice, after all."

While I do agree that it is none of my business to comment on the decision made by any mother, this simple statement got me pondering.

There's no such thing as a free choice

Is it always a deliberate choice, unaffected by societal expectations and pressures?

This idea stayed with me as I thought about how every time there is a discussion on any such topic, we tend to dismiss it as a "choice" without really looking at the situation from all angles. Instead of pitting mothers making different choices...