A space of one’s own
Women are forging a new way of working, designed to suit them. From a millennial members’ club to a guerrilla
ONCE upon a time, “boys’ club” operated as a noun; now it functions more like a slur. In these new times — times of #MeToo and a pantomime villain of a pussy-grabbing President — the term conjures a sense of exclusivity and purchased privilege. It suggests status quo, not forward motion; it calls to mind a subtext of misogyny — like a stag do, but in suits. Time’s up on alpha culture.
But change leaves a power vacuum. And while all-male networks recede into the shadows, shamefaced, the fairer sex’s versions are becoming a potent movement. In the past couple of years, as women have fought for a new standing — politically, socially, professionally — a lattice of female networks has been spreading through cities and cyberspace, symbolic of progress, with female-driven agendas to set and the power to unsettle the old guard.
In the past year the AllBright has become a cornerstone of the capital’s high-flying, female business community. The UK’s first women-only members’ club was founded by businesswoman Debbie Wosskow and Anna Jones in March last year and currently resides in a four-storey Georgian townhouse in Rathbone Place, Fitzrovia, furnished with monochrome sofas and Frenchstyle bistro tables, and hosting meeting rooms, a bar, a salon and a small gym. Annual membership costs £1,150 (£750 if you’re under 30).
The AllBright has recently announced it will open a second London space in Maddox Street, Mayfair, in spring, and a site in West Hollywood in the summer. Upcoming events at the original club include a “Galentine’s” party and a talk about fertility.
“Physical spaces are a necessity for female founders in the UK today,” explain Wosskow and Jones. “During our research, 32 per cent of female founders or aspiring female founders told us they need a place to work to launch or grow their business. Of those, 27 per cent described themselves as ‘nomads’ — they c u r re n t ly u s e c o -wo r k i n g spaces or coffee shops; 33 per cent said they needed a more professional environment to conduct business or meet clients; and 19 per cent said it’s impossible to get anything done in their current environment — there are too many distractionsorcompeting demands, which means they simply can’t focus.”
Moreover, the clubs allow women to find role models. “There’s still a dramatic confidence gap between men and women in the workplace, most notably amongst those in their mid-twenties and thirties.” This idea — that female networks can make women feel more confident and powerful, is also one of the cornerstones of retail guru Mary Portas’s book Work Like a Woman. The book was the thinking woman’s stocking filler for Christmas 2018.
Meanwhile, in the US, there is The Wing — tagline: “Your throne away from home” — which started out as a co-working space for women in New York’s Flatiron district, located, neatly, on Ladies’ Mile. It now has three clubs in New York, one in Washington DC, one in San Francisco and one in LA — with others coming to Chicago, B o s t o n , To ro n t o, Seattle and London later this year.
It’s younger than the