The business space where men can be men will include a gym.
There’s a small group of entrepreneurial men who are concerned about a lack of rites of passage for young white blokes today, and the knock-on effect this has for them in the world of business.
They’re so concerned about the fact men have few choices but to just “start drinking at 15” instead of doing some hunting and gathering or going to war (or something that those other cultures get to do), that they’re creating a male-only co-working space in Brisbane. They say they will kindly refer women away, especially given domestic violence is such a problem at the moment.
This is not a joke — unless the good people at Junkee have come up with a very elaborate scheme to tell a good yarn, including creating a website and Facebook page for this group. Journalist Osman Faruqi has interviewed the 25-year-old founders who say their new space will be an “innovative way to address male related social issues”, especially domestic violence which they say in most cases stems from depression. Both add that they’ve had “a mate who ended up in a violent situation with his wife. He pushed his wife over.” They say, “having a space where men can be men is more of a preventative measure” and that it’s difficult for men to be vulnerable when women are around.
In a scene that looks like something out of the HBO series Silicon Valley, the co-founders are pictured together wearing their matching branded t-shirts.
In case this is an attempt by this new co-working space to bait women’s publications like this one, I’m not going to list the website or name the organisation in question — see the original story at Junkee. If you’re in Brisbane and you’re searching co-working spaces, I’m pretty sure it’s web presence will give it away, particularly with the empty tiles on its “partners” page, with questions marks and the words, “Could this be you?”
Yes, there are co-working spaces designed for female-led businesses and founders. But dare I suggest these exist to help counter a culture in the startup, tech and investor space that’s still overwhelmingly male? These spaces also tend to have men working in them, with acceptance criteria usually only being that the founder is female or the business is predominantly owned by women – they don’t actively exclude men from being present. As Faruqi points out, the fact this is the first ‘all male space’ open could be attributed to the fact three in four Australian startups are still founded by men. It’s actually not hard to find environments where men can be men without any women interrupting, just check out the majority of boardrooms across Australia.
If these co-founders really feel the need to set up a male-only co-working space, then so be it — assuming they have some kind of exemption from anti discrimination laws. If they genuinely feel it’s tough trying to be a man and build a business in all those other startup spaces that are so overwhelmingly female, then let’s hope the all-blokes space can help.
But if it’s about depression and any link to domestic violence, I’m not convinced creating a business hub that excludes women will help. At the same time that I read about this co-working space on Junkee last night, I also received a press release about a new co-working space in Sydney, the second location for WeWork, which is now present in 30 cities across the world. I’ve checked with WeWork, they say they absolutely welcome women. Indeed, their new space in Pyrmont has space for 1,700 new members and includes facilities that cater to the “diverse needs of members”, including a mother’s room for nursing women.
Now that’s how you run a co-working space, and build a significant, inclusive business. There’s a good reason WeWork now has 100 physical locations across the world.
