Women’s Sheds Internationally

Updated 16 Nov 2020

 Professor (Adjunct) Barry Golding & Associate Professor Annette Foley (Federation University Australia, Ballarat); Dr Lucia Carragher (Dundalk Institute of Technology, Dundalk, Ireland)

Please send Australian and NZ information, updates and Women’s Sheds missing from our list to:  b.golding@federation.edu.au

Please send Irish & UK information, updates and Women’s Sheds missing from our list  to: lucia.carragher@dkit.ie 

Introduction

The history and development of the now international Men’s Sheds movement is reasonably well known (The Men’s Shed Movement: The Company of Men, 2015).

Around the same time that Barry Golding was researching this book, a small number of shed-based community organisations had begun to spring up in Australia and elsewhere that were created instead mainly for and by women. In the five years since there has been a significant growth in the number of Women’s Sheds (some called ‘She Sheds’), some as offshoots of existing Men’s Sheds, planned or opened, particularly in Australia, Ireland and the UK.

We aim to progressively map the field internationally and share whatever information individual Sheds are happy to contribute. If there is information missing or wrong, please let us know.

What follows outlines the international situation in relation to the emerging ‘Women’s Sheds’ movement to September 2020. It is evident from the rapidly expanding table at the foot of this blog that there was a sufficient number of such ‘Women’s ‘Sheds’ open or active before the COVID19 shutdown, to justify this initial international scoping study.

Given that many Shed-based community organizations including Women’s Sheds have been in partial or total lockdown during 2020, we have relied on publicly available information from the web, augmented by information provided by informants via email and published in this data base with their permission.

At least one half of Women’s Sheds open or developing (before the early 2020 COVID19 shutdown)  had a publicly available email address on the internet and most have a Facebook site. Around one quarter of the rest have a publicly accessible contact name, phone number or physical location.

Our first aim as researchers is, with the assistance of Wome;’s Shed practitioners to fill in the missing gaps’in the Table below and make this Women’s Shed database publicly accessible. We  plan to regularly update this blog as new information comes in. We anticipate this will enable individuals and organisations developing Women’s Sheds to network, contact, learn from and support each other.

Barry Golding used a similar process to create and circulate a Men’s Shed data base to inform and productively support early Australian Men’s Sheds between 2005 and 2007. Since 2007 the Australian database has been maintained by the Australian Men’s Shed Association (AMSA). Since the creation of IMSA in Ireland, UKMSA in the UK and MENZ Shed in New Zealand during the past decade, searchable ‘Find a Men’s Shed’ sites have been available online in Australia, Ireland, the UK and New Zealand.

Our second aim is to more closely identify the scale, scope, spread, nature and impact of the Women’s Shed sector. We are aware from our previous research into the impact of Men’s Sheds on communities and individuals, that governments and not-for-profit organisations make funding decisions that rely on rigorously collected evidence and research. To this point no such reliable evidence is available for Women’s Sheds.

We anticipate publishing an academic paper later in 2020 scoping the phenomenon, leading to a proposed field-based international research study during 2021, assuming that it is COVID-19 safe to conduct interviews.

Barry and Lucia are writing a Chapter about ‘Women’s Sheds internationally’  in Barry Golding’s 2021 book, Shoulder to Shoulder: Broadening the Men’s Shed Movement, to be published in the US through Common Ground, as a sequel to his 2015 book. The Men’s Shed Movement: The Company of Men.

Separately, Barry. Lucia and Annette are currently writing up field research based on interviews we have recently conducted in Australian and Irish Men’s Sheds, that is examining the impact of Men’s Sheds on significant others, particularly wives and partners of male shedders. In the process we have come across a number of rural Men’s Sheds where women participate and are involved in the Shed, sometimes on equal terms with men.

It is clear that many women also and separately enjoy somewhere to go, something to do and someone to talk with, sometimes in the company of other women. Our research should produce some useful, new and timely evidence about the nature and impact of Women’s Sheds.

Women’s Sheds

Women’s Sheds are essentially community places and spaces where women can come together at any life stage, engage in a variety of activities and connect with other women in an all (or mostly) female environment. While most adopt an organisation title which puts the name of the place first, e.g. ‘Port Macquarie Women’s Shed’, around one third put ‘Women’s Shed’ up front, e.g. ‘Women’s Shed Seymour’.

Many Women’s Sheds have been created as grassroots community organisations, typically led by one or a small number of passionate and well-networked women. Most make good use of social media, particularly Facebook, and many have dedicated websites.

Some Women’s Sheds have emerged as separate entities or been operating out of or through an existing Men’s Shed organisation or building. Some began or are now operated in an auspice arrangement through an existing community organisation such as a community centre. Others have been set up independently as stand alone Women’s Shed organisations, though relatively few appear to own their own premises.

The rationale for particular Women’s Sheds appears similarly diverse. What is different from Men’s Sheds, at least superficially, is that very few appear to be focused specifically on older women. Most have been driven by a perceived community need to connect, empower and involve women of all ages.

Patrick Abrahams,  UK Men’s Sheds Association Ambassador has recently concluded, on the basis of observations of quite a few Women’s Sheds start-ups across the UK, that ‘ ... they typically follow a different development path than the Men’s Sheds in the UK. Women’s Sheds often gather a large number of members early on, and this quite rapidly dwindles. This was happening even before the shutdowns forced by the COVID 19 pandemic. By contrast Men’s Sheds typically start slowly and then grow. The overall failure rate of Women’s Sheds in the UK tends to be much higher than Men’s or Community-based Sheds. I think this caused by the greater need in Women’s Sheds of training/support on DIY/woodwork and other skills (or specific planned group activities). By contrast, Men’s sheds seem to be more self-sufficient, in terms of individuals undertaking projects without the need for support, training or group activities’.

It is clear from the information generously provided by Women’s Sheds in the tables below that many are struggling with recognition, finding it hard to attract funding and create a permanent meeting place. From 1 October 2020 the ability for Women’s Sheds to attract funds within Australia has been boosted by the declaration by the Australian  Taxation Office (ATO) of DGR (Deductible Gift Recipient Status of community sheds, defined as ‘Men’s Sheds and Women’s Sheds’.

The ATO condition is that the Women’s Shed  organisation’s dominant purposes ‘must be advancing mental health and preventing or relieving social isolation’, are ‘seeking to achieve those purposes principally by providing a physical location where it supports individuals to undertake activities, or work projects, in the company of others’. Further, either: ‘ there is no particular criteria for membership for your organisation; or the criteria for membership relate only to an individual’s gender or Indigenous status (in that membership is, for cultural reasons, open only to Indigenous persons), or both. Further information see:https://www.ato.gov.au/General/New-legislation/In-detail/Other-topics/Not-for-profit/Extending-deductible-gift-recipient-status-to-Men-s-Sheds-and-Women-s-Sheds-(community-sheds)/

The Irish Times (11 Jan 2020)  reported the opening up of funding to Irish Women’s Sheds as well as Men’s Sheds. The Irish Minister of Rural Affairs (Michael Ring) said that ‘Since its establishment less than 10 years ago, the impact of the men’s sheds movement has been phenomenal,” Mr Ring said. “I’ve no doubt that the emergence of women’s sheds can only be a good thing for community life in Ireland. ”

These funding  issues associated with Sheds setting up were common to many early Men’s Sheds before the movement gained traction, Once Men’s Sheds started to actively network and research became available to buttress their claims about impact the Movement took off in leaps and bounds.

To September 2020 approximately 180  research articles, many peer reviewed and including several Masters and PhD theses, had been published internationally about Men’s Sheds. Until Women’s Sheds are able to get wider recognition including from academics it will be difficult to produce evidence of impact other than by extrapolation from  Men’s Sheds research.

Despite their positive ideals and early successes, some early Women’s Sheds are now closed or in recess as a consequence of feeling isolated and lacking community support, even before the COVID19 pandemic. As researchers committed to being of assistance, we hope that our blog helps identify some of the common difficulties as well as provides some common solutions and future possibilities.

Context for the development of Women’s Sheds to 2020

Barry Golding’s (2015) The Men’s Shed Movement book includes four pages (pp.364-367) summarizing data on the critically important role of women in creating and supporting individual Men’s Sheds as well as the now international movement. In Australia where the first Men’s Sheds opened over two decades ago, decisions about women’s involvement in the shed as participants has typically been made at a local level. Whilst in most Australian Men’s Sheds it is solely or mainly men who participate in the shed activity, a small number of Men’s Sheds include women as equal members and participants.

Quite a number of Men’s Sheds have separate programs and days for women. Some ‘Women’s Sheds’ operate out of preexisting Men’s Sheds. A small number of sheds are badged as ‘Community Sheds’ or Community Men’s Sheds in order to be more inclusive of women. Some Shed-based organisations also involve children as participants.

She Sheds

A small number of community-run Shed-based organizations for and by women  call themselves ‘She Sheds’.

Evidence online suggests that the term ‘She Shed’ otherwise refers mainly to personal and private shed-type places and spaces in the house or back yard. A Google search on the term suggests that a ‘Shed Shed’ is:

… a female man cave. It is a dedicated space in the home set aside just for the woman of the house. It can a place for recreation, rejuvenation and enjoying personal activities. Most of all it is a female sanctum dedicated entirely to the woman.

Consistent with the above, a 179 full-colour book by Erika Kotite, She Sheds: A room of your own published in January 2017 encourages women to:

… Create your very own hideaway for relaxing, crafting, reading, or just to have a private place just for you. She Sheds provides the instruction and inspiration in this lovely gift-able edition. They’ve got their man caves, and it’s time for you to have a space of your own.

It is evident that many commercial businesses are riding the personal She Shed wave, particularly in the US, offering products to help construct  or enhance backyard She Sheds.

Other Women’s Shed name variants

A small number of what are effectively Women’s Shed-based organisations use other names, typically also including the name of the locality,  including ‘Shelia’s Shack’, ‘Shelia’s Shed’, ‘Ladies Shed’, ‘Fix it Sisters Shed’ and ‘Her Cave’.

Whilst we have not included Shed-based community organisations on our data base which call themselves ‘Community Sheds’,  ‘Community Men’s Sheds’ or ‘Men’s Shed’s, we acknowledge that such Sheds sometimes include some or many women as members.

A brief history of community-based Sheds for and by women

Whilst it is far too early to write a definitive history of the Women’s Sheds Movement, there is evidence that the idea and practice has evolved within the past decade and accelerated in the past five years to 2020.  In many ways it appears to be a female response to and mirroring of the development of Men’s Sheds, but tailored to women’s sometimes different needs and interests. The Women’s Shed Facebook site was founded in July 2010 as ‘A place to exchange and share in the building of a Women’s Shed Network across Australia and beyond!’

National Men’s Shed peak bodies in Australia and Ireland (AMSA & IMSA) have recently begun to acknowledge and provide logistical support for some Women’s Sheds.

Governments in Ireland and Australia have also begun to acknowledge or include Women’s Sheds in their funding rounds. In January 2020, 22 Women’s Sheds across Ireland as well as 339 Irish Men’s Sheds were acknowledged for the first time as being eligible for a total pool of funding of a half million Euro to help purchase equipment and carry out works. Men’s Sheds in Ireland are eligible if they are registered with the Irish Men’s Sheds Association. There is no equivalent national affiliation for Women’s Sheds, which causes difficulty in defining them. The following criteria are considered when deciding whether a group that applies is a ‘Women’s Shed’ and is eligible for funding (from the Community Enhancement Programme 2019 guidelines for ‘small scale capital costs’.)

• If they are affiliated with another parent association (which means they are not really a Shed), then they should not be eligible for this fund.
• There must be an appropriate organisational structure to the Shed.
• The number of number of members of the group should be considered. If there are very few members then this should be considered along with their level of activity when deciding on eligibility.
• The group should demonstrate that their ethos consistent with the ethos of the Men’s Shed movement.

Women’s Sheds international data base to Nov 2020

Our data base below, augmented by the Facebook Women’s Sheds Contact List (3rd Draft Nov 2018), summarised in dot point below, confirms that of the approximately 110  Women’s Sheds (or similarly named equivalent community organisations) internationally, at least one half were likely to have previously been operating internationally, being planned or under development before the COVID-19 lockdown to early 2020.

Summary to 20 Nov  2020

• Australia: 60 on data base, 23 confirmed  active or open.

Of those Women’s Sheds  in Australia:

• • • 33 (55%) are in New South Wales
    • 13 (24%) are in Victoria
    • 7 (13%) are in Queensland
    • 5 (9%) were in Western Australia
    • 2 (4%) were in South Australia
    • 1 (2%) was in Tasmania

• Ireland: 23 on data base, 0 confirmed active active or open.
• UK: 25 on data base, 9 confirmed active or open.
• NZ: 3 on data base, 2 confirmed  active or open.
• International TOTAL: 110 on data base, 32 confirmed active or open.

To 17 Nov 2020 we have validated data returned from 32 Women’s Sheds internationally.

More than one half (45%)  of all sheds  on the international data base were in Australia, with around one fifth (21%) on the Island of Ireland and around one quarter (23%) in the UK ( England, Scotland or Wales, with two in New Zealand.

We have sent an email to each Women’s Shed organization requesting additional information to be included in this publicly available data base.

If you see a Women’s Shed in the Table that is missing, have updated information or have a better contact email address for a Shed that has ‘awaiting more information’, ‘awaiting email contact’, or ‘awaiting email response’,  please let us know.

Specifically, Women’s Sheds informants have been invited to provide information about the location, status, type of Shed, the origin, intention and targeted women, opening days and times  (if open before the March 2020 COVID19 lockdown), stage of development and basic contact details (website, email, key contact person).

We will progressively update Tables 1-4 , below (for Australia, the Island of Ireland, the UK and New Zealand), including the new information as responses come in. If you are able to fill any of the gaps or see something that is incorrect, please email Barry Golding: b.golding@federation.edu.au

Meantime, please  watch this space. Sheds for which information was derived online including from Facebook are shown in bold italics.  Where additional information has been confirmed (provided and shared) by the Shed organisation the Shed name is shown in bold, We have added a star * to Sheds that appeared to be active or open to early 2020.

Women’s Sheds internationally

Table 1: Australia (61 listed: 30 confirmed)

Table 2: Ireland (23: reportedly as many as 33 in January 2020: )

Table 3: UK (25: 7 confirmed)

Table 4: New Zealand (3:  2 confirmed)