Women-only societies/villages

[ArabellaScott]

'Umoja, which means "unity" in Swahili, is quite literally a no man's land, and the matriarchal refuge is now home to the Samburu women who no longer want to suffer abuses, like genital mutilation and forced marriages, at the hands of men.'

Started watching this last night, and thought a thread of groups/societies set up as women-only might be interesting.

www.ibtimes.co.uk/modern-utopia-inside-londons-women-only-housing-1610224

London housing project.

'New Ground ...is run by Older Women's Co-Housing (OWCH), a group of women over 50 who created their own community as an alternative to living alone.'

Mosuo, in China. Not strictly 'women only', but a matriarchy.

'The Mosuo women of southwest China belong to a small ethnic minority that live beyond the strictures of mainstream Chinese culture. Mosuo women don't marry in the traditional sense. They practice what they call a "walking marriage" in which a woman may invite a man to spend the night but he has to leave her house by daybreak. Any resulting children are raised by the woman and her family.'

Oh, I'm sliding into matriarchal societies, here, sorry, but they are also interesting:

Indonesia:

'Minangkabau is one of the few Islamic communities that follows matrilineal culture and it is also the largest matrilineal society in the world. Women own the family house and it is passed from mother to daughter. '

Brilliant idea for a thread OP. Thanks. Going to look at al these now.

Thanks Arabella. I will bookmark for later.

Great idea until the trans women decide they want in.

@cushioncovers

Great idea until the trans women decide they want in.

These aren’t ideas- they are societies that already exist and function and have done for generations in some cases.

I would absolutely love something like this. I'll have a look at these later when I have the time to read about them properly.

As it is, even the ''women solo campers' camping group I'm part of is no longer just women.

The older I get, the more cynical I've become and living in a matriarchal society sounds ideal, the perfect antidote. Thanks Arabella

So sorry to hear that Sensateria.

Great thread! Thank you

I will come back later and add to it. It is interesting to think that there are groups and places in the world trying out different models.

Jinwar, in Syria.

www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/jinwar-syria-north-patriarchy-kurdish-women-raqqa-a8661866.html

Great thread, Arabella.

The women only housing project sounds like a great idea. It would be amazing if it could be replicated across the UK. ❤️

Yep.

Again, forgive me a slight tangent:

This is Barcelona, considering how a city would look designed by/for women:

www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-50269778

The topic of women only living spaces came up in last Saturday's Feminist Question Time - video not up yet but it will be:

www.youtube.com/channel/UCWECmp5Tk3epYSkjs0qAKKQ/videos

I think there was some discussion of successful areas, spaces that worked, those that didn't because reasons .

Oh, fab, thanks Embarrassing.

This one?

That's the one, Arabella - I did look earlier and didn't see it so I'm pleased it's been uploaded so quickly. I was relying on captions - but I think somebody described something akin to the spaces described here:

But these male-free rural idylls risk dying out with their founders, unable to attract a new generation of women who do not feel the same need to escape discrimination, and who believe transgender women and some other minorities should be included.

www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-lgbt-women-idUSKBN1WU18C

There are several excellent presentations within that. As ever, there were useful resources within the Chat function and I'd expect those to turn up on the site.

www.womensdeclaration.com/en/whrc-live/feminist-question-time-links/

tbh, as ever, it seems like we need Badley and the FWR portal so that we can move in and out of that woman-only community at will.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3435161-Badley-Fuckitt-Welcomes-Careful-Drivers

In the chat, there were understandable/usual comments from people who wanted to know if women could live in these women-only spaces with their male partners and relatives. (The Reuters piece gives an overview of the arguments.)

I did see something recently that some of Biden's changes in the US means that women can no longer have single-sex housing support:

The action represented a stark change in policy at the housing department, which said under the Trump administration last year that the rule would allow shelters to base admissions on “biological sex,” adding that the rule change would accommodate the “religious beliefs of shelter providers.”
…
The proposed rule change was criticized by civil rights groups… which said the rule would mean transgender women, and even potentially other women mistaken as transgender, may be referred to shelters that also accommodate men, where they could face abuse or assault. Some women could lose access to shelters entirely, they added.

www.nytimes.com/2021/04/22/us/transgender-homeless-biden-trump.html

A historical example of women only communities. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beguinage.
Discovered one in Belgium - it seems they have religious roots but what they offered women was fellowship and independance, and also a chance to work.

I would love this. Although I'm a married lesbian so I wonder if we'd be allowed or if it's for singles...

i work in an infant school and its all female staff and all female governors - but we do hire male contractors for the gardens and caretaking. It isn't deliberate, men just never apply for the roles.

A school can feel like a community /town of its own sometimes and i've often thought this is the closest to living in a female run society i would get.

Khasis. India's indigenous matrilineal society. Of course, being the BBC, much of the article talks about how they can't wait to sink into patriarchy. But whatever.

The interesting thing about all the women-centred societies I've heard about is that none of them are hellholes. Compare and contrast, as they say on exams, with too many of the male-dominated ones.