The theme for International Women’s day 2022 is Changing climates, equality today for a sustainable tomorrow. These two ideas are very close to home at Bare Beauty House. As a strong group of women we all come from different paths of life, battling different biases and inequalities. As a sustainable salon we are one of the few emerging hair and beauty salons that’s main focus is exploring one's beauty in the most sustainable way. When talking about a sustainable salon we are not only talking about maintaining our planet's health but also a future for women that can be sustained. This means providing eco-friendly services that allow our environment to flourish and our biodiversity to rebuild, whilst giving women results driven treatments that are toxic free and free from harsh chemicals that can ultimately lead to disease and shorter life spans. Throughout the years women have faced many battles in achieving equality. Our right to education came late as our family roles were keeping the homes clean and serving dinner for the family. One of our senior hairdresser's Rebecca grew up in South Korea. When talking about what it was like to grow up there she describes it as a very male dominated country and it wasn’t until she was at school that feminists became more vocal. She speaks about the men in the family being able to eat before the females and at a seperate table. When asked about her school life Rebecca says it was at the turning point of equality towards education. Her mother when she was a child had a much different experience. Her mum was not granted educational rights and instead looked after the family home and her brothers. “What do you believe being female and feminism is?” “Feminism is a super power women have. We are dedicated, empathetic, meticulous, always a few steps ahead and great at multitasking. As the world grows we need to be more vocal to find balance between men and women otherwise things will stop changing for the better. The foundation of the world was built for and by men and we need to change this so we must keep pushing and continue to speak up” Rebecca   -   senior hair stylist Because of our delayed start to knowledge we now strive and push harder trying to prove that we are equally as capable as men. We were deemed as unsuitable for powerful roles, and, unsuitable to choose who made our choices for us. Parliament has been held by men for decades and slowly we have seen more women speak up. In 2021 we saw some key progressions towards equality. But we have also seen some stunts. During the dreaded Covid outbreak ‘Leah Rodriguez’ states that the global crisis has added another 36 years to the amount of time it will take to close the gender gap. This means it will now take around 13.5 years for women and men to reach impartiality. On the brighter side of things the Tokyo Olympics became the most gender equal Olympic Games. Tokyo insisted that the teams had an equal ratio of women to men. However women were still given less pay and had less news coverage. When you think of the hair and beauty industry, it does dominate as a more female centralised career path. However there are still issues within equality and the opportunities that come with the industry. Naomi, Bare Beauty House’s founder, finds that the industry is “dominated by male artistic directors and product companies. Men have been lifted up more through the industry which is disappointing as it is a more female dominated area”. Think Paul Mitchel, Kevin Murphy, & Tony & Guy, just to name the top three that come to mind. This imbalance is seen across all industries especially when it comes to powerful roles. Last year we saw some positive changes towards females and parliamentary roles. Samoa and Estonia have elected their first female prime minister. Confronting the out of date belief that women are not suitable for power. In the past couple of years feminists and activists have made stands to fight for equal rights for women and those who also face bias. Creating and editing legislation and bills assists certain communities and people of the world from future bias and mistreatment. It is creating a permanent, sustainable and maintainable tomorrow. This year we look too celebrating the struggle of feminists fighting for environmental justice around the globe. An example are women farmers in India who are trying to secure land to create lives that are empowered, self-resilient, sustainable and to create change. Last year in India the government decided to raise the legal age of marriage from 18-21 in the belief that the legislation will bring parity in the age of marriage between men and women. This decision led to a amendment of the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, which was introduced into parliament. At our salon we open our doors to all kinds of people. We make sure that every client is treated with the same respect and experience no matter their race, religion, age, gender or sexual preference. Our team of fewer than 10 are all at different stages in life. A few have teenagers, toddlers or a baby on the way. Two of us are training to either advance our skills or are just starting out. Due to us all being different ages and ethnicities we must learn to understand and support the wide range of events each of us go through. Although we are all different we have all had some of the same experiences growing up and how we are treated day to day. To keep us and our clients feeling safe the salon has an anti discrimination policy and Our founder, Naomi, ensures all staff are not only aware of this but adhere to it by the strictest standard. This isn't hard as we all have shared values and a certain level of respect for one another , but its nice to know there is a baseline expectation for everyone who comes into the salon. Naomi also makes sure we support other Female entrepreneurs and business owners to help build a community of successful women in the area. We strive for female success in all aspects of life, whatever that looks like for each individual person. Naomi had her share of struggles and she found difficulty in finding other like minded business women. Since relocating her salon from Rose Bay to Manly, Naomi feels as though she has found her tribe who are on the same journey with her business wise and sustainability wise. We must continue to fight for equality, biodiversity and ultimately a sustainable world for everyone and everything to thrive in!