The exclusion of women journalists from Muttaqi’s embassy presser was not just a breach of protocol—it was a breach of principle. It exposed a tension: India’s strategic openness to diplomacy and pragmatism stopping just short of standing up for the equality it claims to hold dear. In the public sphere, actions like this have ripple effects—they chip away at the legitimacy of institutions, of media, and of a society’s promise to its women. The real test is not whether one press conference is fixed—but whether the lesson is learned: equality is not optional, even (or especially) in diplomacy.