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Issue: Women’s Co-Working Spaces
Women’s Co-Working Spaces
By: Lisa Rabasca Roepe
Pub. Date: March 4, 2019
Access Date: July 1, 2022
DOI: 10.1177/237455680507.n1
Source URL: http://businessresearcher.sagepub.com/sbr-2022-109172-2918442/20190304/womens-co-working-spaces
©2022 SAGE Publishing, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
©2022 SAGE Publishing, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Do they meet the needs of female entrepreneurs?
Executive Summary
As co-working spaces have grown in popularity among people seeking to rent office space to work independently, co-working facilities
designed especially for women have also spread. These businesses cater to female entrepreneurs by providing an abundance of
collaborative space and a pleasing ambience, programs on honing business skills and opportunities to pitch potential investors. Many
have also adopted formal anti-sexual harassment policies. However, co-working spaces oriented toward women have had to address
whether to accept male members. While several have done so since their inception, one, The Wing, was sued recently over its female-only
membership policy and has changed its rules to allow men to join.
Some key takeaways:
The market for co-working spaces oriented toward women seems to be growing, with several providers expanding across the
United States and into other countries.
The cost of joining can be prohibitive for some potential members, and some facilities offer scholarships, or reduced rates for those
who agree to perform volunteer duties.
While these facilities resemble business accelerators in some ways, they are less structured and do not require entrepreneurs to
offer an equity stake in their businesses to those running the space.
Full Report
The Wing co-founder Audrey Gelman (L) and actress Jennifer Lawrence speak at The Wing’s facility in New York’s Soho
neighborhood. (Monica Schipper/Getty Images for The Wing)
Entrepreneur Julia Beck gets energized when she can bounce ideas off peers and colleagues, so she began working out of Serendipity
Labs in Bethesda, Md., which provides workspaces to both men and women. She discovered the site offered mostly private offices, which
meant there was less opportunity for members to share ideas or collaborate.
“Offices bring doors and doors bring privacy,” says Beck, founder of It’s Working Project, a Washington company that seeks to help
businesses ease the transition of new parents back into the workplace. “Privacy has its place, but that doesn’t feel very inspirational.”
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In search of a different experience, Beck joined The Wing, a co-working space designed primarily for women that seeks to nurture
collaboration and a sense of community as well as greater “mobility and prosperity” for its target audience. 1 Beck says she appreciates
The Wing’s sense of openness and the unpredictable mix of people in the facility. She says working there “brings more excitement, energy
and drive into my daily life.”
Co-working spaces, where people working remotely or independently can rent office space for a few hundred dollars a month, have
become increasingly popular in the past decade. And since 2016, there has been a proliferation of co-working spaces designed and
developed especially for women. The Wing, The Riveter (named for Rosie the Riveter, the World War II-era symbol), RISE Collaborative
Workspace in St. Louis, The Broad in Richmond, Va., Women in Kind in Denver and The Coven in Minneapolis are among the sites that
have opened recently, giving women an alternative to large, co-gender spaces such as WeWork and Industrious.
“There are needs women have that aren’t addressed at more general co-working spaces,” says Jamie Russo, executive director of the
Global Workspace Association, a trade group based in Palo Alto, Calif. “Some of that is programming, some of that is comfort level,” and
some of it may be part of the cultural reaction to the #MeToo movement, Russo says.
Female business owners are concerned that they are not getting the same amount of support and resources as their male counterparts, a
survey by PlanBeyond, a Seattle market research and strategy agency, found. 2 Female-oriented co-working spaces are helping to meet
this need by offering programming that ranges from the fundamentals of marketing to creating compelling business pitches, says Laura
Troyani, founder and principal of PlanBeyond.
What these spaces offer “aligns well with the gaps women are telling us they’re experiencing right now in their day-to-day business
operations,” Troyani says. “On top of that, these spaces afford entrepreneurs the opportunity to connect with other women who’ve tackled
the issues they’re facing. It means a ready-made network when they don’t already have one.”
Women Less Optimistic About Business Performance
Percentages of men and women optimistic about business’s performance and pessimistic about funding, 2019
Source: “2019 Small Business Owner Report: The Male vs Female Divide,” PlanBeyond, November 2018, https://tinyurl.com/y222g2y8
Female small-business owners were less optimistic than men about how their businesses will perform and more
likely to name access to funding as a reason for pessimism, according to a 2018 survey by a marketing
research agency.
The trend toward female-oriented facilities began to emerge with spaces such as Hera Hub, which opened in 2011 in San Diego and has
expanded to Carlsbad, Calif., Phoenix, Washington and overseas to Sweden. The trend really took off in 2016 when The Wing opened in
New York City and The Riveter began in Seattle, sparking a proliferation of co-working spaces for women.
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©2022 SAGE Publishing, Inc. All Rights Reserved. The common element in these spaces is an effort to meet the needs and preferences of working women. This includes decors and amenities, such as plants, calming colors, aromatherapy, lactation rooms and classes in yoga, meditation and barre. But it goes beyond atmospherics; these spaces also offer classes and workshops to help women expand their businesses. The Riveter provides weekly meetings with venture capital firms and Hera Hub and The Wing sponsor pitch competitions, allowing members to present their business ideas to investors and compete for funding. “The benefit is, you’re in a community where everyone identifies with amplifying women’s voices,” says Amy Nelson, founder of The Riveter. In contrast, co-gender sites such as WeWork and Industrious can feel like large, noisy coffee shops rather than nurturing spaces for collaboration, Nelson says. Visits to such facilities and examinations of promotional material confirm that while many offer social events, such as happy hours, they do not always offer programming geared toward business development. 3 While many sponsor free lunch-and- learn programs, they are often on subjects such as home buying and financial planning, and are led by other members who are looking to cultivate new clients. (A WeWork spokesman declined to comment on these issues.) The Wing, The Riveter, Hera Hub and other spaces for women are filling a gap in the market, their founders say. Before they opened, there wasn’t a single woman co-founder or board member at the three largest U.S. co-working companies, WeWork, Industrious or Rocketspace. 4 One issue that these female-oriented co-working spaces have had to handle is whether to be exclusively for women. The Riveter and Hera Hub welcomed male members from the outset. The Wing did not, and last year the New York City Commission on Human Rights opened an investigation into whether The Wing’s policy to not allow men to join as members or visit as guests is discriminatory. 5 When The Wing opened in Washington, a would-be patron named James E. Pietrangelo filed a $12 million gender discrimination lawsuit against the facility in June 2018 after he said he was told he would be denied entry because he was a man. 6 Soon after that suit was filed, The Wing’s founders changed the membership rules to allow men. 7 The Wing did not respond to requests for comment on the reason for the change in policy. Founders Inspired by Suffrage Clubs Audrey Gelman and her business partner, Lauren Kassan, say their inspiration for The Wing came from the 19th-century women’s clubs that were popular during the suffrage movement and offered a safe environment for women to gather. “While our concerns are different now, we felt like there was still a place for those kinds of spaces,” Gelman said. 8 “And our vision became to resurrect them for modern women.” 9 Founders of these spaces say women need co-working sites created and built by women because women work together differently than men do. Co-working spaces for women typically have more tables and sitting areas geared toward collaboration. The Wing, for instance, offers a variety of sitting areas that feature velvet couches and cozy chairs, in rooms with floor-to-ceiling windows, with hanging plants. The library features books written by women about women, organized by the colors of their book jackets to create a rainbow effect on the shelves. While there are a few quiet rooms at The Wing, most of the space is geared toward collaboration. The Riveter and Hera Hub are similar. In comparison, WeWork is 90 percent offices with just a few collaboration tables, The Riveter’s Nelson says. “Women interact differently, and want to collaborate and talk more,” she says. Kate Viggiano Janich and Amy Dagliano, co-founders of Rowan Tree, a women’s co-working space in the Washington suburb of Herndon, Va., say they asked local women what they wanted in a site. Most said they were looking for a place to hold meetings and meet other women with similar interests, Janich says. Rowan Tree, which looks a bit like a tree house with its wood furnishings, large windows and open floor plan, feels like a cross between a coffee shop and an office. Most of the space is shared. Although there are no private offices, a few conference rooms can be reserved for large, noisy meetings. Most people work at shared tables, either alone or in groups of two or three. With more people working from home or starting their own business, there is an increased desire for community and connection, Janich says. “We have a home and an office, and people also want a community to go to,” she says. Page 4 of 12 Women’s Co-Working Spaces SAGE Business Researcher
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Rowan Tree offers business-related programming along with wellness and personal growth classes, including yoga twice a
week. (Photo courtesy of Rowan Tree)
Another reason co-working spaces for women have gained popularity is that some co-gender sites lack formal anti-harassment policies or
the HR infrastructure necessary to handle harassment complaints. Writer Jillian Richardson outlined her experience with sexual
harassment in an article for Quartz. 10 She wrote that when she told the owner of the co-working space that she was being sexually
harassed and asked that the harasser be told that his actions were unacceptable, the owner brushed off her concerns and did nothing to
address the situation. Richardson did not identify the facility by name. 11
WeWork was sued last year by a former employee, Ruby Anaya, who alleged that the company failed to address two incidents of sexual
assault that she suffered during her employment. The lawsuit alleged that WeWorks was permeated by a “frat-boy culture.” The company
rejected Anaya’s allegations, saying in a statement: “WeWork has always been committed to fostering an inclusive, supportive, and safe
workplace. WeWork investigated this employee’s complaints, took appropriate action, and this employee was terminated solely because
of her poor performance.” 12
Hera Hub, Rowan Tree and The Riveter make clear that sexual harassment will not be tolerated. Rowan Tree has a formal anti-harassment
policy that members must sign that states, “Sexual harassment includes, but is not limited to, the following:
a. Unwelcome sexual advances; requests for sexual favors; and all other verbal, visual or physical conduct of a sexual nature based on
gender, especially where such conduct has the purpose or effect of interfering with an individual’s work performance or creating an
intimidating, hostile or offensive working environment.
b. Offensive comments, jokes, drawings, pictures or cartoons, innuendoes, and other sexually oriented statements, whether verbal or
written.”
Rowan Tree founders wanted to provide additional security, so they also installed a security camera. “We wanted to give members 24-
hour access, but we also want them to be safe,” Janich says.
At Hera Hub, members must agree that they will not engage in “defaming, abusing, harassing, threatening or otherwise violating the legal
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rights (such as privacy and publicity) of others; posting, distributing or disseminating inappropriate, profane, defamatory, obscene
indecent, unlawful information.” 13 At both Rowan Tree and Hera Hub, the penalty for violation of the policy is revocation of membership.
Who Are the Typical Members?
The businesses using these co-working spaces range in size from one employee to about five, and include startups, marketing
companies, writers, government contractors, lawyers and data scientists. “Typically they are high-achieving women in the public or private
sector who transitioned to a passion project or are building a professional services business,” says Julia Westfall, CEO and founder of
Hera Hub DC.
While these sites are geared to women, many have male members and welcome male guests. On average, membership at The Riveter is
25 percent men. Male members include male-founded startups as well as men working at companies founded by women and renting
space at The Riveter, Nelson says.
For instance, Melissa Lehman, CEO and co-founder of Pogo Rides, a carpool app for parents, works out
of The Riveter in Fremont, Wash., with her two male co-founders. “It is really critical in gender equality that
everyone has a seat at the table,” Lehman says. “A workplace of only women is missing men’s voices and
most work teams have both genders. Focusing on just a single gender is unnecessarily exclusionary.”
Hera Hub’s D.C. office has 87 members, including one male. Several female members have male team
members who work at the office as their guest. Rowan Tree currently has 52 members, including two
males, and several female members bring male teammates as their guests.
None of these companies would provide a breakdown of membership by race or ethnicity. “We don’t keep
those numbers,” Nelson says. “It’s a very diverse community – internationally, racially, culturally – but we
don’t keep track,” Westfall says.
Membership Fees Vary
Many of these co-working spaces offer flexible pricing options and do not require members to make a full-
Melissa Lehman year commitment. For instance, membership at The Riveter starts at $99 a month for access to just the
facility’s programs, with the price increasing depending on whether a member needs a floating desk,
dedicated desk or private office. “The flexible pricing enables more people to form a team and start working on a business without having
to be at Starbucks seven days a week,” Lehman says.
Rowan Tree and Hera Hub also offer membership tiers, and some sites offer scholarships for businesses getting started. Hera Hub offers
an “ambassador membership” that gives free access to those who volunteer to sit at the front desk, welcome visitors and sign for
packages four hours a week. “It’s a way to get involved without having to pay out of pocket,” Westfall says.
In contrast, The Wing offers just two types of membership: $215 per month for local access only and $250 for access to all its locations,
including New York City, Los Angeles and Paris. 14 Wing members must commit to a full-year membership but can pay monthly. For some
women, the price and the full-year commitment can put this co-working space out of reach, although The Wing has set up a pilot
scholarship program. 15
The Wing does not accept all those seeking membership. The application asks prospective members to provide examples of how they
have promoted or supported the advancement of women and to describe what they believe is the biggest challenge facing women today.
Since 2016, The Wing has received more than 13,000 applications. 16 It currently has about 6,000 members, according to a recent article
on TechCrunch. 17
There is no application process at The Riveter, Hera Hub or Rowan Tree. “We were built on inclusivity,” The Riveter’s Nelson says. “We
want you to be part of what we are doing, whoever you are.”
However, Westfall does like to meet with potential members before they join Hera Hub to make sure they are a good fit for the community
and are not joining just to find business leads. She says Hera Hub is designed for people who want to network with professional women in
a way that could lead to business opportunities. The attrition rate at Hera Hub is about 5 percent, Westfall says.
Female-Founded Companies Starved for Capital
Percentage of venture capital deals/funding for female-founded companies, 2008-18
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Source: Emma Hinchliffe, “Funding For Female Founders Stalled at 2.2% of VC Dollars in 2018,” Fortune, Jan. 28 2019,
https://tinyurl.com/y6h9g3ew
Companies founded by women still receive a very low percentage of all venture capital dollars, although the
number of deals going to them has increased, according to an analysis by a data firm that focuses on venture
capital.
The Riveter offers members weekly venture capital meetings, inviting mostly male investors to meet with female business founders. The
goal, says Nelson, is to bring together people who would not normally see each other and help them build relationships. This is especially
important for women founders, she says, citing a 2018 report that determined all-female companies received only 2.2 percent of all
venture capital dollars – a slight decline from 2017. 18
“Not everyone at The Riveter is looking for VC, but if you are, it’s an amazing way to get in front of potential partners and a cool way for
partners to meet female entrepreneurs,” says Lehman of Pogo Rides, who has participated in at least two venture capital meetings at The
Riveter. While neither resulted in a check, she said it was worth it for the practice and experience. Most entrepreneurs will pitch 40 to 50
investors before they get funding, she says.
Hera Hub and The Wing also offer members opportunities to pitch investors, although not weekly. Hera Hub DC offers an annual Fast
Pitch contest; last year 10 women took part, including Arion Long, founder of Femly Box, a subscription-based organic feminine care
product company. Long says it was her first experience in pitching investors. She won, competed in the Hera Hub Venture Summit in
California and won that, too. Since then, she has won nearly 70 pitch competitions, raising enough money to support her company. “The
support and encouragement from Hera Hub is immeasurable,” Long says.
While Hera Hub offers its members a place to work, its founder, Felena Hanson, says its true focuses are mentoring, instilling business
acumen and providing education and resources. “That word co-working space is very broad and is used by seemingly almost everyone,”
she says. “The skill building and business acumen is really an important part.”
The workspace is just a tool to get people in the door, Westfall says. The bigger goal is to help them succeed and get their business off
the ground. In Washington, Hera Hub offers a weekly meeting that encourages members to work on their business development plans and
a weekly writing lounge. “Those are two things people should spend more time on but don’t,” Westfall says. There are also experts
available to help with social media, technology, goal setting, business strategy and bookkeeping.
Rowan Tree offers similar business-related programming as well as wellness and personal growth classes, including yoga and creativity
classes such as painting and mosaics. “It’s not just about getting the work done,” Dagliano says. A sampling of The Wing’s programming
includes guest speakers such as adult film star Stormy Daniels (aka Stephanie Gregory Clifford) and writer Esmé Weijun Wang, a session
on finding the right therapist, a monthly book club and breakfast events.
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In some ways, these co-working spaces are similar to accelerators – programs that seek to expand the size and value of a startup
company as quickly as possible. 19 However, co-working spaces offer less structure. And most accelerators require business owners to
move into a shared workspace for three months to get day-to-day mentoring and advice from the founders
of the accelerator, in exchange for an equity stake in the company. 20
At co-working spaces, Nelson says, “It’s choose your own adventure. If you wanted a rigid and very
intensive experience, then an accelerator can be amazing.”
The Wing serves more as an all-purpose club than an accelerator, says Cayla O’Connell Davis, a Wing
member and founder and CEO of Knickey, a subscription service for organic cotton underwear. “In an
accelerator, there is pressure to complete milestones or achieve an outcome,” she says. “At The Wing,
while you are certainly encouraged to participate in networking opportunities and are provided motivation
regularly by the programming, it is completely opt-in. There are plenty of members who do not utilize it to
support their business efforts but view The Wing as a reprieve from work, a place to meet likeminded
people or enjoy the events that take place.”
Amy Dagliano
In fact, some members say The Wing can feel more like a country club than a co-working space. Each
location boasts an upscale café, spa-worthy showers and a beauty room equipped with robes, slippers,
high-powered hair dryers and upscale toiletries including Chanel perfume.
The Wing feels more like a lifestyle brand and even sells merchandise
including T-shirts, pens and tote bags. It publishes a magazine, No Man’s
Land, and has a podcast by the same name. Each episode is devoted to a
misunderstood woman from history. Recent episodes featured writer Sylvia
Plath, African-American investigative journalist Ida B. Wells and Cuban-
American performance artist Ana Mendieta.
Freelance writer Vivian Nosti says The Wing in Washington reminds her of the
private girls’ school she attended in Miami. When she was looking at co-
working sites, “no other place connected with me,” she says. Nosti also likes
that she can bring up to two guests. “I love the sense of community.”
Bridey Heing, also a freelance writer living in Washington, says she will not be
renewing her Wing membership because she does not believe it lives up to its billing. She says she joined because she was moving back
to D.C. after living in London and wanted to find a community of women with whom she could network. She was expecting her membership
to open doors for her, but that has not happened, and there is no scholarship program at The Wing’s D.C. location. She also thought there
would be much more interaction with the New York City members. “I thought I’d be part of a much larger community,” she says.
Heing is not alone. Mimi Montgomery, an assistant editor for The Washingtonian magazine, says she cannot afford a membership at The
Wing. “When I got accepted and learned of its $215 a month price fee, I knew I couldn’t make it work,” she wrote. 21
Venture Capital Sought
Both The Wing and The Riveter have been raising venture capital. The Wing recently raised $32 million in second-round funding from
WeWork, in addition to having an existing $8 million in initial funding from investors. 22 The Riveter raised $20.5 million, including $15
million in first-round funding. 23 However, this pales in comparison to the more than $10 billion in venture capital raised by WeWork and
$80 million raised by Industrious. 24
“I don’t see raising money as an accomplishment,” Nelson says. “I would like to get to point where we are fueling growth from own profits.”
25
Rowan Tree also raised money to open its door, using the IFundWomen platform to crowdfund $38,000.
In comparison, Hera Hub uses a licensing model to expand to new cities. A local leader in the community pays a licensing fee to open a
Hera Hub location. Having an owner/operator who is a community leader and also an entrepreneur is critically important to Hera Hub’s
success and the success of those using the space, Hanson says.
Will the Market Become Saturated?
For now, demand for co-working spaces designed for women appears to be strong. The Wing and The Riveter are expanding to other
cities and even overseas. The Wing is expanding in 2019 to Boston, Chicago, Seattle, West Hollywood, London and Toronto. 26 The
Riveter has announced plans to expand to five new cities, including Austin, Texas, in early March, as well as Atlanta, Dallas, Denver,
Minneapolis-St. Paul and Portland, Oregon, by mid-2019. 27 If these new locations are built on time, The Riveter will have 11 spaces in
eight cities before its second anniversary. Its goal is to open 100 locations by 2022. 28
In the last 10 years, co-working spaces have grown about 23 percent, says Russo of the Global Workspace Association. “We think that will
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absolutely continue to grow,” she says. And in major markets such as New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco, Russo
anticipates seeing more niche co-working spaces. “We already seeing spaces for creatives, architects and real estate agents,” she says.
Eventually, signing up for a co-working space will be akin to applying for a gym membership, Russo says. In addition to deciding which
location offers an easy commute, workers will also ask what fits with who they are as professionals and as people, she says. “Some
women will choose a female-only space for the community, extra support and programming that is really focused on their needs.”
About the Author
Lisa Rabasca Roepe is a journalist who writes about the culture of work, personal finance and technology. Her work has appeared in Fast
Company, Ozy.com, Family Circle, Good, Quartz, The Week, HR Magazine, Men’s Journal, Eater and the Christian Science Monitor. Her
most recent report for SAGE Business Researcher was on craft distillers.
Chronology
1990-2010 The concept of shared workspaces emerges.
1995 C-base, the precursor to modern-day co-working sites, opens in Berlin as a location for people to share space and
ideas while developing their computing skills.
1999 Bernard Louis DeKoven, an American game designer, coins the term “co-working” to describe collaborative,
noncompetitive work that lets people focus on their own projects.
2005 Software developer Brad Neuberg begins the first official co-working space in San Francisco as an alternative to home
offices and impersonal business centers.
2010-Present Co-working companies spread rapidly.
2010 Businessmen Adam Neumann and Miguel McKelvey open the first WeWork, in New York City, as a shared workspace
for technology startups, entrepreneurs and freelancers.
2011 Marketing expert Felena Hanson opens Hera Hub, the first co-working space for women, in San Diego.
2013 Jamie Hodari founds Industrious, a shared workspace company, in New York City.
2015 Hera Hub opens a location in Washington.
2016 Audrey Gelman and Lauren Kassan open The Wing, a co-working site and social club for women, in New York City’s
Flatiron District.… Amy Nelson, a former corporate litigator, opens The Riveter, a co-working site for women that takes
its name from the World War II symbol Rosie the Riveter, in Seattle.
2017 A survey by DeskMag, an online magazine covering the co-working industry, predicts that 1.7 million people will be
working in co-working spaces around the world by the end of 2018.… The Wing opens a second New York City
location, in SoHo.
2018 The Wing opens sites in Brooklyn, Washington and San Francisco. The Riveter opens a location in Los Angeles.…
The New York City Commission on Human Rights opens an investigation into whether The Wing’s policy to not allow
men to join as members or visit as guests is discriminatory. James E. Pietrangelo files a $12 million gender
discrimination lawsuit against the facility after he applies to The Wing’s Washington branch and is told he would be
denied entry because he was a man. The Wing changes its membership rules to allow men.
Resources for Further Study
Bibliography
Books
Kinugasa-Tsui, Kenny, “Co-Working Space Design,” Images Publishing Group, 2018. An architect provides an in-depth analysis of best
practices in designing co-working space.
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Women’s Co-Working Spaces
SAGE Business Researcher©2022 SAGE Publishing, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Kwiatkowski, Angel, “Ultimate Coworking Launch Sequence: How to Build a Successful Coworking Community,” CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2017. A co-working consultant offers advice, templates, checklists and tips for creating an engaging co- working space. Articles Fessler, Leah, “If co-working is the future, then it shouldn’t look like a frat house,” Quartz, Sept. 6, 2018, http://tinyurl.com/yy35pshz. A journalist interviews Amy Nelson, CEO and founder of The Riveter, about why co-working spaces for women are necessary. Gotthardt, Alexxa, “The All-Female Social Club Helping Creative Women Advance their Careers,” Artsy, March 4, 2018, http://tinyurl.com/y2dxs2so. A journalist talks with Audrey Gelman, founder of The Wing, about her inspiration for the co-working space. Lewis-Kraus, Gideon, “The Rise of the WeWorking Class,” The New York Times Magazine, Feb. 24, 2019, http://tinyurl.com/y6tnyh7e. A journalist examines the popularity of WeWork co-working sites. Montgomery, Mimi, “I Got Into The Wing in DC. Here’s Why I Can’t Join,” The Washingtonian, April 12, 2018, http://tinyurl.com/y6nw28ga. A magazine assistant editor writes about why joining The Wing is out of her price range. Richardson, Jillian, “The frustrating truth I learned about co-working spaces after I was sexually harassed in one,” Quartz, Dec. 13, 2016, http://tinyurl.com/y3d8e9f3. A brand copywriting consultant and comedian describes her experience reporting sexual harassment at a co- gender co-working site. Reports and Studies “2019 Small Business Owner Report: The Male vs Female Divide,” PlanBeyond, accessed Feb. 15, 2019, http://tinyurl.com/y222g2y8. An analysis of the attitudes, hopes and concerns of male and female business owners. Spreitzer, Gretchen, Peter Bacevice and Lyndon Garrett, “Why People Thrive in Coworking Spaces,” Harvard Business Review, September 2015, http://tinyurl.com/o9hklor. Three academic researchers analyze why people feel more productive in co-working spaces. The Next Step Funding Castrillon, Caroline, “Why It’s Time For Female Entrepreneurs To Break The Money Taboo,” Forbes, Feb. 17, 2019, https://tinyurl.com/y4qgvzld. Female business owners need to become more comfortable seeking outside funding if their companies are to succeed, according to a business and life coach. Penrod, Emma, “Why Men Should Invest In Women-Owned Businesses,” Utah Business, Feb. 13, 2019, https://tinyurl.com/y39tt5sq. A gender bias in venture capitalism puts female entrepreneurs at a disadvantage, and more female investors are needed to help level the playing field, says a science and technology journalist. Sweeney, Deborah, “Female Founders Fund On Why Investing In Female Talent Matters,” Forbes, Jan. 24, 2019, https://tinyurl.com/y3sbh84q. A New York-based, female-run venture capital firm invests in businesses founded by women and has established a supportive community of entrepreneurs. Membership Spencer, Erin, “Is There A Case For Women-Centric, Co-Ed Coworking Spaces?” Forbes, Jan. 7, 2019, https://tinyurl.com/yx9e66ff. Hera Hub and The Riveter are designed for women, but membership is open to men to encourage inclusivity and cooperation, say the female founders of the companies. Steinmetz, Katy, “Women-Only Spaces Are Part of a Coworking Craze. Some Might Also Be Violating the Law,” Time, April 20, 2018, https://tinyurl.com/y3w2mx9t. The growth of the co-working industry has led to a rise in spaces marketed to niche audiences, such as the LGBTQ community, according to a Time correspondent. Westphall, Kimber, “How New Co-Working Concept The Slate Plans to Stand Out,” D Magazine, Feb. 18, 2019, https://tinyurl.com/y6bg3j82. The Slate, a new co-working space in Dallas founded by two women, is geared toward women, but membership is open to both genders. Organizations Global Workspace Association Page 10 of 12 Women’s Co-Working Spaces SAGE Business Researcher
©2022 SAGE Publishing, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 2225 E. Bayshore Road, Suite 100, Palo Alto, CA 94303 1-916-260-9023 https://www.globalworkspace.org An association of professionals who own, design, operate and invest in shared workspace. Hera Hub 8885 Rio San Diego Drive, Suite 237, San Diego, CA 92108 1-855-437-2482 https://herahub.com Co-working site for women founded in 2011. Industrious 594 Dean St., Brooklyn, NY 11238 1-929-283-6780 https://www.industriousoffice.com Co-gender co-working site with 29 locations across the United States. PlanBeyond 747 Belmont Pl. E., Seattle, WA 98102 1-206-457-3083 http://planbeyond.com/ A market research and strategy agency that looks at the state of small-business owners. The Riveter 1517 12th Ave., Suite 101, Seattle, WA 98122 1-833-474-8383 https://www.theriveter.co/ Co-working space for women with four current locations and five more planned for 2019. Rowan Tree 280 Sunset Park Drive, Herndon, VA 20170 1-703-705-9449 https://workrowan.com A co-working space for women in the Washington suburbs. WeWork 115 W. 18th St., 2nd Floor, New York, NY 10011 1-646-760-3969 https://www.wework.com A co-gender co-working site with 562 locations across the country and overseas. The Wing 45 E. 20th St., Penthouse, New York, NY 10003 https://www.the-wing.com/ A co-working and social club for women with six locations and five more to open in 2019. Notes [1] “About Us,” The Wing, accessed Feb. 25, 2019, http://tinyurl.com/y8lspt2z. [2] “2019 Small Business Owner Report: The Male vs. Female Divide,” PlanBeyond, accessed Feb. 14, 2019, http://tinyurl.com/y222g2y8. [3] “WeWork,” accessed Feb. 20, 2019, http://tinyurl.com/y5thasjl; “Industrious,” accessed Feb. 20, 2019, http://tinyurl.com/y9fp7qvm. [4] Leah Fessler, “If co-working is the future, then it shouldn’t look like a frat house,” Quartz, Sept. 6, 2018, http://tinyurl.com/yy35pshz. [5] J.K. Trotter, “The New York Human Rights Commission is Investigating The Wing,” Jezebel, March 26, 2018, http://tinyurl.com/yc7gkw6q. [6] J.K. Trotter, “Women’s club The Wing quietly dropped its practice of banning men after a man filed a $12 million gender discrimination lawsuit,” Insider, Jan. 7, 2019, http://tinyurl.com/y5oy2b8e. [7] Ibid. Page 11 of 12 Women’s Co-Working Spaces SAGE Business Researcher
©2022 SAGE Publishing, Inc. All Rights Reserved. [8] Alexxa Gotthardt, “The All-Female Social Club Helping Creative Women Advance their Careers,” Artsy, March 4, 2018, http://tinyurl.com/y2dxs2so. [9] Ibid. [10] Jillian Richardson, “The frustrating truth I learned about co-working spaces after I was sexually harassed in one,” Quartz, Dec. 13, 2016, http://tinyurl.com/y3d8e9f3. [11] Ibid. [12] Sara Ashley O’Brien, “Former WeWork employee sues for sexual harassment, retaliation,” CNN Business, Oct. 12, 2018, http://tinyurl.com/y5o5cj9n; Renae Reints, “WeWork Accused of Mishandling Sexual Assault Reports Amid ‘Frat-Boy Culture,’ ” Fortune, Oct. 12, 2018, http://tinyurl.com/y3tpdwed. [13] Member Agreement, Hera Hub, accessed Feb. 14, 2019, http://tinyurl.com/y3xqkcfl. [14] Jenna Wang, “The Wing’s Audrey Gelman On Building A Feminist Co-Working Empire,” Forbes, Aug. 13, 2018, http://tinyurl.com/y4555opt. [15] Mimi Montgomery, “I Got Into The Wing in DC. Here’s Why I Can’t Join,” The Washingtonian, April 12, 2018, http://tinyurl.com/y6nw28ga; “Apply for The Wing Scholarship Program,” DNAMAG, May 11, 2018, http://tinyurl.com/y65x23ls. [16] Gotthardt, op. cit. [17] Kate Clark, “Women’s co-working space The Wing adjusts membership policy to allow all genders,” TechCrunch, accessed Feb. 20, 2019, http://tinyurl.com/y5md5u6g. [18] Emma Hinchliffe, “Funding for Female Founders Stalled at 2.2% of VC Dollars in 2018,” Fortune, Jan. 28, 2019, http://tinyurl.com/y4a3a42w. [19] Lisa Rabasca Roepe, “Business Accelerators,” SAGE Business Researcher, Jan. 30, 2017, http://tinyurl.com/hd469dp. [20] Ibid. [21] Montgomery, op. cit. [22] Clare O’Connor, “Women’s Club The Wing Raises $32 Million Series B, Led By WeWork,” Forbes, Nov. 21, 2017, http://tinyurl.com/y2rkjgwd. [23] Ruth Reader, “The Riveter, a female-centric coworking startup, raises $20 million,” Fast Company, Dec. 11, 2018, http://tinyurl.com/y78avuzj. [24] Savannah Dowling, “A Look at WeWork’s Recent Funding,” Crunchbase, Jan. 9, 2019, http://tinyurl.com/y4breyua; Michael Grothaus, “WeWork’s rival Industrious just raised $80 million,” Fast Company, Feb. 27, 2018, http://tinyurl.com/yxtmy742. [25] “The Rowan Tree,” IFundWomen, accessed Feb. 26, 2019, http://tinyurl.com/y5h754o3. [26] “Spaces,” The Wing, accessed Feb. 25, 2019, http://tinyurl.com/yyh845l9. [27] “The Riveter’s National Expansion Extends to Five Cities by Mid-2019,” The Riveter, Jan. 29, 2019, http://tinyurl.com/y6kgbcs4. [28] Taylor Soper, “The Riveter begins national expansion with new female-focused, co-working space in Austin,” GeekWire, Jan. 22, 2019, http://tinyurl.com/y2e8ptpq. Page 12 of 12 Women’s Co-Working Spaces SAGE Business Researcher
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