Do women in your area support each other or is it isolating?

[Leteer]

I've lived abroad quite a bit and what I've noticed in some places a strong sisterhood where a woman bring eachother up and support them.

In the UK, What's the sisterhood like your area? Is it good? It is none existent?Are the women in your area more about control/ self serving/ individual interests or do they bring eachother up? Is there a known supportive community for women in your area or is it isolating?

Well, no one’s stopping them, surely? I mean, this all sounds a bit tradwife to me, and I’m not from the UK, though I lived there for many years, and have also lived longtime in several other countries. I don’t notice any particular difference between UK women’s behaviour to one another than elsewhere.

What do you mean by ‘bringing up’?

Same here, I have 5 houses of neighbours, and we all stand and chat, and help each other out if needed

Agreed. Which places outside the UK have you noticed a strong ‘sisterhood’? I’ve lived in a lot of countries but all pretty much a western (?) culture where the family is the primary unit of support - in theory at least. My female friends are very important to me and we lean on each other but DH comes first, and me for him.

I think if I was in a neighbourhood with a strong 'sisterhood' I'd move out. I've only ever found neighbours who are super close to be nosy and interfering.

My current neighbours are hit and miss. One side is a family with young kids but her and her husband are always yelling at each other and biffing and I'm constantly ringing the police which annoys her so we can say hello but we're not friends.

The other side are an older couple and are very, very strange (cats names after German army officers from WW2 etc) and the lady has a very strange habit of lecturing people on where they can park. She can't drive so I'm not sure why she cares so bloody much.

I’m Irish and live in the community I was raised in. People in general help each other out, say hello, stop and chat whether we know each other or not. Women automatically help each other out with kids, welcome a new baby, ask after kids/ grandkids even if you barely know them. We keep an eye out for each other’s kids when they are in the park/ playground etc.
Men are similar ish once they get to the grandfather stage.
There is a very strong sense of community and yes, women are supportive of each other in a particular way.

No, it isnt.

You might find it sad but I dont want to be in and out of my neighbours houses. I prefer my privacy and space. I socialise with people I choose to socialise with because we get on well, not because they live next door to me.

I have previously had the experience of nosy neighbours who kept trying to intrude into my life and I absolutely bloody hated it.

Just because you like it, doesnt mean other people should do. Its not "sad" at all.

“Leteer · Today 12:16
Actually being swept up the way you word it sounds like there is some incapacity there which is actually an insult to hospitable people who may want to shower their neighbour with welcome if they want to.”

@Leteer - i didn’t mean to suggest that. I’m sorry for giving that impression. And as i said, we are on very good terms with our neighbours (women and men) and we support each other.

But there is something that I really disliked about the implication in your original post that the likely very busy women in any particular area should be on standby to support all incomers and that they are somehow deeply flawed (not good sisters) if that is not the case.

I have loads of fantastic female friends.

I don’t mix with women in my community just by virtue of a ‘sisterhood’ or the need ‘to bring them up’. What utter bollocks.

Maybe the OP is talking about communities / cultures where there is far greater separation of the sexes in terms of socialising / mixing than there is in the UK? There are parts of my city (in France, in the North African communities ) it’s quite unusual to see a woman in public, but all the cafés / streets are full of men. I’d assume that the women are spending time together but in private spaces. And maybe supporting each other?

Wow you paint a great picture for the Irish , part of me wishes the English were like this.

Yes this is standard in England now and I personally think it's unfortunate as for example the Irish are not like this.

Some would call me stridently feminist, but there's something about your post that's a bit odd.

Such things are usually written by women who are disappointed or annoyed that their female acquaintances are not interested in the MLM side-hustle, or unwilling to cheer-lead any idea they have, support they feel entitled to mainly on the fact they're fellow women.

The most fantastically public example of this was made by Hilary Clinton. I can't remember her exact words but she made it clear that she thought it was some kind of duty for women to automatically trust and vote for her, based on the fact she was a woman. I remember her wording being quite manipulative because the subtext was that if you didn't vote for her, that means you were somehow unsupportive of women generally.

Come on OP. Out with it! What's happened? Have you been excluded in some way?

Where I live now, no. Other than the odd hello and collecting parcels, nada.

Where I lived previously; we had a large community of support and sisterhood, and I'm still friends with many of those women now.

And yet many other cultures are. I come from northern Europe and my family have lived in the same apartment block since 1964. We don't even know the name of our neighbours. And we rather like it that way because people keeping to themselves also comes with a benefit of a quit building where there are no squabbles about noise, rubbish, access, parking or any other things people on here habitually complain about.
Whereas I've lived in a similar apartment block in another country with different customs and it was commun knowledge who the lady from nr 30 slept with when her husband went away and who left the pram chained to the railings blocking access to the front door etc. It was a nightmare and felt like nobody had any privacy whatsoever. Outwardly, everyone was supportive. But behind your back, everyone knew and discussed your business.
I have plenty of individual groups which I choose to be a member of who provide a sense of community without needing to know all the ins and outs of lives of people on my street.

‘The Irish’ aren’t a hive mind who behave homogenously.

Yep. Ive never even seen most of my neighbours even the ones who live above me. I couldn’t pick most of my street out of a line up.

However I have a great social group of very good friends - only one lives in my town the others are scattered far and wide.

Is this by any chance research for a book ?😀

Sisterhood? I don’t know any of my neighbours . I don’t think most people are surrounded by women who support and champion them unless they are friends through other situations.

Yes, there is a very strong, long running sisterhood in my community. We have women from 20-80 in the group from many different backgrounds with many different interests, and it is a wondrous thing. The support women give each other is invaluable. We also have a lot of fun and adventures!

Bit of context. Very rural, minimal services so community is very important. Lots of artistic and (sigh) ‘alternative’ people, although they are a minority in the group.

I commend such a group to you, OP. If there isn’t one, start one. I did 😁

You can PM me if you’d like an (ahem) more imaginative and warmer response to the ones you are getting here!

I always say hello or have a chat over the fence. Her daughter always feeds our cat when we go away and my husband feeds her animals when she goes away. She came over couple of times last summer after she kicked out her husband, we supported her through that, I have checked in via text now she is working more hours and I'm working less. She knows she can always pop over if she wants company.

No I don’t belong to any sisterhood but I am surrounded by a community that is strong and supportive ? It’s just mixed sex. Which is how it should be?

I explained in my original post it arose due to traveling

No but perhaps this would be a good topic to do it on. Are you in publishing?

That is fantastic.

I don't think any country is hivemind? We have cities in every country where people are very individualistic. However, generally you can have certain characteristics of people within a culture and I do get Irish are more like this, perhaps because historically they have larger families and so it was more likely women engaged to help out with the children.