How can I find a female friend(s)?

[skittleboy]

So I'm in my 20s now. I'm not sexist or anything but everyday I am surrounded by men. Everyone I work with is male, all the social groups I am with are 90% men.

There's nothing wrong with men but I want a female friend as well. Young-ish about 20-50 years old.

But I very rarely come across any. It's a real shame. I like to go to the cinema, bowling, meals out, pub quiz and stuff but it is mostly men that come even though they are not activities exclusively for men.

Where are all the women? I expect a lot of girls in their 20s are out raving and clubbing and getting drunk but I'm not into that stuff because I'm quite quiet/reserved. But what about 30+ girls?

I just think it would be nice to go out with a female friend and go out for a meal and talk about how our Christmas went.

Also I rarely get to sit down and have a nice deep conversation 1-1 with someone which I think is important in life.

I want a girlfriend ultimately which I have never had before (but that's for another thread...)

Any advice? Thanks.

P.s I also need to practice talking to people because I am not very good at it.

I recently downloaded bumble bff - it’s ok so far but because it’s been Christmas time I’ve been unable to organise a meeting yet.

Can you say roughly where in the UK you are?

I have female friends but I don’t have a close friend. Most people are couples and I don’t have much time. I’m a bit socially awkward and say the wrong things and I also like my own space which doesn’t seem to go well with women who seem to want to be in each other’s pockets.
I’m friends with lots of gay men which my niece finds funny.

Do you know any of your friends' partners/ wives? That might be a way

Somerset

It’s hard to make friends with people unless you have something in common - a shared interest/ hobby etc.
Have you looked at places like MeetUp.com - lots of local groups with shared interests and sometimes by age ranges too.

What do you enjoy doing?
E.g. sport? Join a club
Music - join a group or choir
Or volunteer for a group or charity.

I'm in Dorset so potentially not too far from you!

Have you tried Meetup? That can be a good way of finding like minded people with similar interests who live close by.

Cross post with Norma!

Oh pick me! I have no friends and they were all ex husbands so I will lose them eventually and need to start fresh!

I feel the same as you.. I'm early 30's. I'm in Yorkshire though. I've heard good things about bumble BFF I'm thinking about giving it a go. In fact I'm going to make attempting to make new friends a New Year's resolution. Good luck OP

@Mistlewoe Well all the guys at work have wives. They are nice but I don't see much of them because they go out as a family. And I don't see much of my colleagues outside work because they like completely different things e.g. fishing.

I don't think I could say to my colleagues 'Don't mind me, I'm just taking your wife out for a meal tonight'

also need to practice talking to people because I am not very good at it.

Me too 😣

@NormaSnorks Yes I use meetup all the time. It's great. But like I say there's few women that come.

I'm late 30s and my advice to you and my younger self would be:

Take up some hobbies that allow you to meet people and you will end up making friends through that. Maybe not immediately but the friendships will be more sustainable.
Pursue interests you have in a sociable way especially if the interests themselves are solitary (reading, running etc) - book group, steward at a park run, etc.

You will meet some people that you want to hang out with outside the hobby and some you don't, some will come and some will go, that's normal especially at this age when people start settling down and having kids.

I was the same I'm the only girl in my team at work (energy) so wanted some female friends. I became a guide leader. I love it, I was in it when I was younger but had stopped when I went to uni and moved away. It helped because I moved to an area where I knew nobody as I had moved for work and wanted non work friends. We are quite a young group of leaders though. I'm 27 and one is 21 and the other two are mid 40s but we have a laugh. I also went on an 18-30 girl guides trip white water rafting just for the leaders of that age group and it was great fun getting to know new people that way.