world

Rebirthing Balance: International Women’s Day.

jamie-lopez-artwork

{Photo credit: Jamie Lopez}

March 8 is known around the world as International Women’s Day, a global day of celebration in honor of women and our achievements. Specifically aimed at recognizing the political, social, economic and cultural contributions women make across the globe, International Women’s Day (IWD) has been around since the early 1900’s. As more attention has been given to the global oppression of women in recent history, women’s rights have expanded, giving us a reason to celebrate every step forward.

In many countries around the world, this day is celebrated by acts and instances of men honoring women publicly and unabashedly. Of course, there are those among us who believe this can be done every day, a practice not to be set aside as a special occasion or an annual occurrence.

Celebrating, exalting and honoring and women is something many of us incorporate into our daily lives. We celebrate ourselves and our sisters as a way to rebel against the status quo of paternalism and patriarchy that dominates our everyday lives.

We live in these bodies, and we celebrate women with every breath we take.

With each glance in the mirror and in the reflection of every word we write.

With each harmonious note and with every brush stroke, we pay tribute to ourselves as women.

While today is meant to recognize the accomplishments and contributions of women, it is also a day that is used as a continuing call to action to accelerate gender equality. Organized events and activism take center stage on IWD, from rallies and conferences to direct actions — all meant to bring awareness to the work that is still waiting to be done.

Yes, we’ve come along way, baby, but we’ve also got a hell of a long way to go.

On this spinning spec of beautiful stardust, there are billions of women and hundreds of nations, yet fewer than thirty of our world leaders are female. Even in the home of representative democracy, women make up only 19% of Congress and hold only 6 of 50 possible governorships. Somehow, that just doesn’t seem like a balanced equation.

That is why, as a part of the International Women’s Day theme for 2016, you will find a campaign focused on high level leaders taking personal responsibility for creating and increasing gender parity in our world. One means to increasing equality for women includes charging top executives and business owners with making a personal and public commitment to employing and paying women fairly — at all levels.

As part of the campaign, several international CEOs have pledged their personal dedication to creating just and representative environments within their workforce.

Sir Richard Branson, Founder of the Virgin Group has joined the charge, noting accurately that gender parity is still far from a reality in many parts of the world and citing the role that leaders have in promoting equality, respect and fair business practices.

Others high level businessmen and women like Suma Chkrabarti, President of the EBRD, and Fiona Dawson, Global President of Mars, have made public statements regarding the need for equity in the workplace, along with the benefits that having a gender balanced workforce brings.

That’s great. That’s important. It really is.

But what about those of us stuck here in the real world? What of the women living on meager pay week to week and not daring to ask the boss for a raise, let alone call out the men who wield power over that paycheck? What about those of us who will never see a boardroom, unless it’s to dust the maple table and vacuum the carpets?

What about the wild women who call the forests their office, the mountains their meeting space and who’d rather depend on a river current than any world currency?

lady-in-red

{Photo credit: Jyne Greenley}

What about those of us who reject the glass ceilings and power structures that so many others are leaning ladders against? What of those who opt out of the attempt to claw and climb our way through corporate anything?

What about the millions of women who reject the notion that gigantic banking conglomerates and worldwide corporations and processed food manufacturers can create anything of real worth, let alone a bridge that could close the gender gap?

What about those of us who know that true and lasting gender parity has little to do with jobs and even less to do with money?

There are those of us that have moved far beyond what our industrialized society tells us is good and right for us. And there are those who would rather not be made to become that which we’ve already begun to reject.

We’ve known all along, and it is in our ancient remembering that the answers are to be found. There are those of us who live in the empath’s world, where we feel it all and understand that there is more than one answer to the question of how to restore our world to balance. Women who are not afraid to continue walking the path of intuition, creating ourselves and adapting to our newly emerging and simultaneously ancient and resurfacing world.

And then, what of those who would keep the scales tipped in their favor? Despite the increased attention to our essential role in the world, women remain victim to repressive regimes, unjust social structures, inane and archaic judicial practices and blatant human rights abuses. Everywhere. Everyday.

So despite the expansions women have seen in the last century, I just can’t help but think that this is actually a sign of contraction when one looks at the last few millennia on Earth.

This is not how our world used to be. I know this. I intuit, deeply, that this is not how our societies have always been structured. And I know that I am not alone. There are many other women that intuitively know that this is not how it’s always been, and it sure the hell isn’t how it should remain — not if we want this world to survive. That is why this day is of utmost importance.

We’ve made too much progress to leave any of our sisters behind.

self-reflection

{Photo credit: Alyssa Rogers}

So while I can’t storm into my CEO’s office and beg him to pledge parity, I can do something even more important. I can honor my sisters by sharing our stories. By sharing our art. By sharing our memories and intuitive knowing as it has been created. By using my own voice, I honor my international womanhood, on behalf of my sisters that cannot speak. Or write. Or paint. Or dance…

From Kosovo to Kansas, there are stories of women just waiting to be heard and to be shared. Women with stories of struggle and resilience. Stories of overcoming barriers and breaking down obstacles. Stories of art and history and science. Stories of the wars we face and fight every day — just because we are women.

Stories of creation and rebellion. And stories of remembering… of intuition… of the balance that exists within each one of us. We were somehow made to bury that balance, that equanimity within, but we know that it remains — if it didn’t, we wouldn’t be fighting so hard to bring it back to the surface and out into the light.

Yes, today there are men and women across the Earth who are pledging parity. But I like to think that they are promising much more than equal pay for women and more than workforces that look gender-balanced.

I imagine they are pledging to rebirth the equality that once existed, when we all, men and women, lived in harmony with our first Mother. And as a woman, as a wise and experienced woman, I know that my imagining is the first seed in my ability to create.

You see, parity has more than one meaning.

As a nurse, I know the medical term, parity, to mean something entirely separate from equality or equivalence or congruity. Something entirely separate from a concept that has anything to do with money or pay.

Parity1 (noun)

  1. the state or condition of being equal, especially regarding status or pay.

Parity2 (noun)

  1. the fact or condition of having borne children
  • the number of children previously borne

As a nurse, I know what it means when a woman’s medical record reads: Gravida 5 Para 3.

And as a woman, I know that my parity means that I have both created and borne children. My parity also means that I understand first hand that not every creation is viable. As a woman, I’m not alone in this.

But you see, parity means more to me than birthing babies. It means more to me than equal pay for equal work.

It means that we, as men and women, have been equally given the powers of creation.

Life is not limited to the human experience, but we humans can create a myriad things. We can give birth to ideas and movements. We can create symphonies and masterpieces. We can create systems and languages and birth scientific principles and philosophical truths and proofs. Women and men alike can create these amazing things, using only our imaginations as seeds.

And that is how I know that my intuition is the key. Just as an artist allows her imagination to flow undisturbed into the act of creation that gives birth to her work, we will give birth to our parity. We have borne it before, and we will do so again.

Live human birth may be an experience exclusive to women, but creation is different.

birthing-balance

{Photo credit: Jamie Lopez}

Creation is the greatest act of equality — the greatest act of parity — our world has ever known. Both men and women have always and will always share in the ability to create. That is why it is so important that we create a world that is viable for us all. There is a shared responsibility we hold, regardless of gender, and that is one of raising and nurturing our creation, now that our only Mother has borne us of her womb.

We must raise our world, borne of the Earth, created equally by both women and men from the seeds planted in our collective imaginations eons ago and rooted so firmly into our humanity as to have taken hold deep within our intuition. Care for our creation is the responsibility we share.

I imagine, on this International Women’s Day, that we will rebirth the balance we once knew in our world. And I imagine that it will be viable. Because I am a wise and experienced woman, with many stories to share, and much remembering to reveal.

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All artwork is the original creation of highly intuitive and creatively rebellious women and is graciously used with the permission of the artists. You can find and share more of their work at their sites. Thank you to Alyssa Rogers, Jyne Greenley and Jamie Lopez for creating and giving birth to these beautiful women through your work.

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SR Atchley

SR Atchley

A writer, artist & dreamer, Shanna has been potentiating talent since childhood. She is moved by nature, the arts, and academia, along with the vast mysteries of our inner and outer worlds. Shanna has a BSN, and has spent the majority of her career caring for others. It is possible to share your dreams & talents with Shanna by emailing her, or connecting via Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. If all else fails, she’ll likely find you in a dream, in which case, please feel free to introduce yourself.
SR Atchley
SR Atchley