Celebrating International Women's Day 2020

For International Women's Day 2020 the Arnhem team came together to honour the divine feminine.

This year's IWD theme is #EachForEqual.

To celebrate, as a conscious collection of unique women,

we gathered together to bring a quality of awareness, open heartedness and a willingness to live in harmony with all things.

As women we each contain masculine and feminine energies, and we require

both for balance and wholeness. To ensure that our team were in balance we began with a Cacao Ceremony.

Traditionally grown in Central and South America, cacao has been used for hundreds of years by Mayan and Aztec cultures for spiritual, medicinal and ceremonial purposes.

As an emotional and energetic healer, ceremonial grade cacao is used for inner awakening as a path to the heart, balancing the masculine and feminine.

The divine @iselin.shaktitales created a sacred space for us to be nourished and nurtured.

The ceremony grade cacao was prepared with intention and prayer, and sitting in a circle we received cups of the rich  heart-opening medicine.

Iselin took us on a guided meditation, helping us to connect to the wisdom and spirit within.

Taking sips of cacao we brought awareness to our higher-selfs, letting go, setting intentions, filling with gratitude and connecting to the loving energy within our body. 

Tapping into this inner knowing, we were able to cultivate deeper connections both with ourselves and others in the team. ⁠⠀

With a sense of connectedness infusing the beautiful space at angushill.byronbay we sat down together nourish our minds and bodies.

Styled by our fave creatives Tash and Sarah our team sat down to the most beautifully dressed table, with special thanks to hamptoneventhire and Pikt Flowers

Gifts from Mother Nature were abundant on the table, and we gave thanks for such delicious treats lovingly prepared by byronbaydeli and Iselin.

As a team we discussed gender equality, the women whom we most admire and shared our personal experiences in the safe space created. 

Here's what our team had to say...

To me, gender equality means fair treatment of both women, men, bigender, binary, or any other gender.

I believe that no matter who you are, you should be given the same opportunities, wages and respect.

~ Teigan, Customer Service. 

 I admire all of today's amazing & inspiring women like Malala Yousafzai, Greta Thunberg & Morgan Debaun.

All of these brilliant women have worked diligently to create opportunities for others, make their voices heard & make an impact in their diverse industries.

~ Sarah, Marketing Co-ordinator. 

To me, gender equality is something that women (and men!) should never stop demanding and fighting for.

Women should have the same opportunities and rights as men, and whilst we have come so far in the last century, we still have a long way to go.

In Australia, we are lucky to have the same rights as men, however women still face inequality in many areas of society

- especially the work force and societal expectations around money and family.

Unfortunately in some countries, gender equality simply does not exist at all, and women still face huge disadvantages and limited rights due to their gender.

As we continue to move forwards with our fight for equality in our own country, we must not forget about our sisters in other parts of the world

that are currently facing the same level of inequality that we were facing over 100 years ago!

We need to continue the fight until gender equality is achieved for ALL women.

~ Chelsea, Garment Technician. 

Living in a society where both feminine and masculinity characteristics can be shared across both genders.
Women can be tough and ambitious, as well as men should be allowed to connect with their emotions without being labelled as weak.

Woman have been labelled as the weaker sex for centuries, but we can also recognise that a societal pressure exists for men.

Unless all the walls come down for both genders, equality will never be realistic.

In recent years I've admired Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, an American congress representative of one of the New York districts.

She is extremely engaged in women's rights, as well as underrepresented communities.

She is young, fierce and not scared to tell it like it is.

She used to be a waitress without any political background and started campaigning through peoples donations (no lobbying).

You can see her story amongst other women in the Netflix documentary Knock Down The House.

She is a true breath of fresh air in the political scene mainly represented by middle-aged white men. I love her!!!

I have been raised by a really strong and intelligent woman who worked 60 hours a week at the hospital as well as raising 4 kids.

She taught me how to be an independent woman and free myself from all the old fashioned and preconceived expectations of our society.

It is acceptable for me to pursue my carrier, I have the right to not want to get married, there is nothing wrong with not wanting kids, I don't need a man to be complete and happy...

I have been speaking my opinions about gender equality and pushing away the establishment to other women and men throughout my life.

I hope that I have changed a lot of people's opinions, or at least got them to question what they believe to be "just the way it is".

~ Helene, Fashion Designer

One of the women I admire most for her strong advocacy for sustainable fashion is Livia Firth.

She was one of the executive producers of the now well-known documentary The True Cost, which was an eye opener for urgent changes needed in fashion.

She has also founded Eco-Age, a sustainability consultancy which is helping clothing brands assess the environmental and social impact of their business.

I respect that she goes straight to the source - seeing first hand where the garments are made, where the materials are are being farmed and grown.

Super inspiring!

Before moving to Byron Bay, I spent three years living in Delhi, India.

Every day involved challenging the gender stereotypes that women face on a daily basis.

I was travelling a lot of the time, visiting factories and remote artisan communities where it was rare for single women to travel alone.

The most common question asked was 'where is your husband?'

Even back in the developed metropolitan city of Delhi, living alone as a young woman was a shock to my landlords

- it is the norm for young women stay with their families throughout university and entering the workforce - until they are married and they go live with their husbands family.

Whilst I can’t say I improved these gender expectations of women, I feel I was able to broaden perception by showing an alternative scenario for working women.

~ Sam, Production, Co-ordinator.

Today my mind is drawn to climate change, Mother Earth and the future of my, and our children.

Women have proven to be the best at fighting for a healthy, clean and sustainable world.

Gender equality in politics, economics and innovation is critical to the survival of the planet.

~ Arnhem, Founder.

Gender equality comes from a shared consciousness of all.

Today, and every day we open our minds and hearts to develop a perspective that allows us to be instruments of healing, peace, love and wisdom.

Happy International Women's Day 💞

#EachForEqual