Coworking for Women
Imagine you’re back in London in the 1920s. You enter a private club for gentlemen with inherited salaries to spare and all the time in the world to waste. You inhale a rush of cigar smoke from one room and hear a chorus of laughter and “What ho’s!” from the next with the knock of pool balls in the background. Then you try to order a whiskey but are stopped because you are, in fact, a woman, and you’re not allowed here.
Society has a long history of exclusive spaces for men, but only a few for women. Whereas the male spaces were created for males, the female spaces were typically created because the men didn’t want them to occupy their spaces and needed a place for them to go. Now, we’ve entered a time of spaces created for women, by women, and because of women. One of these is the coworking space.
The point of having an exclusive space is to give the selected group more comfort and to create a low-pressure environment of belonging and community. That’s why all the foppish Woosters of the day flocked to Gentlemen’s clubs, where they wouldn’t have to be pestered by marriage-hungry women, but could relax and goof off, one chum to another.
The reasons to create women-focused coworking spaces are the same. Additionally, coworking spaces these days are often filled by tech startups and small businesses, which are generally dominated by men. As reported by Tatiana Walk-Morris in Chicago Magazine, coworkers like Tiffany English found this “tech-oriented “bro” culture” to be isolating. English also pointed out that coworking spaces for women can also nurture a more conversation-friendly environment.
Women owned and occupied spaces feel safer for many women. Being surrounded by other hard-working women is also the motivation, inspiration, and confidence some women need to become successful businesswomen or workers in a work society that still tends to choose men over women.
If you are a women who would feel better, more empowered, and happier in a coworking space deigned only for women, here are some spaces you can visit or join:
Multiple Locations:
Hera Hub: San Diego; Sweden; Washington DC; Phoenix; Carlsbad, CA;
Chicago:
Free Range Office: While not a women-only space, Free Range is owned and was founded by Chicago business woman Liane Jackson and focuses on creating a welcoming, safe, and productive workspace for women.
San Francisco:
St. Louis:
New York:
The Wing: As written right away on the website, The Wing is “co-working & community for women”, promoting that women gathering together for any purpose is a wonderful thing that should be appreciated and developed.
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