I learned to speak in footnotes So nobody could say I hadn't done the reading I hadn't earned my place I learned to bring the proof in Before they asked me why To know the room twice over Before I walked inside I put the letters after My name like little shields Still watched somebody question Whether I knew my field And every time I answered I could feel the question stay Not what do you know? But... Why should we believe you anyway? If I was a man Would you hear me the first time? Would my words weigh more Coming from another voice than mine? I worked four times as hard To be seen half the time Tell me... If I was a man could I finally claim what's mine? If I was a man could I finally claim what's mine? I built something from nothing And watched them look for flaws Every door I opened Came with another lock I learned to make myself smaller While carrying something large To soften every answer So I wasn't seen as "hard" I watched men speak in certainty With half the things I'd learned And somehow they were trusted Before they'd even earned What I had spent years proving What I had paid to know And I know they never said it That's almost worse somehow No one has to name the weight For you to feel it pressing down If I was a man Would you hear me the first time? Would my words weigh more Coming from another voice than mine? I worked four times as hard To be seen half the time Tell me... If I was a man could I finally claim what's mine? If I was a man could I finally claim what's mine? I wonder who I would've been If I hadn't spent so long Explaining Defending Making certain I belonged How much of me got used up Trying not to be dismissed? How many years were swallowed By having to insist? That I was here That I knew That I built this That it was mine How much life did I lose Just trying to be recognized? If I was a man Would you hear me the first time? Would I need all these letters Just to make you trust my mind? I worked four times as hard To be seen half the time If I was a man... could I finally claim what's mine? If I was a man... Would all of this be enough? I don't want his life I wanted mine Without spending half of it Trying to prove I had the right If I was a man, could I finally claim what's mine? If I was a man, could I finally claim what's mine?
