A Space of One’s Own

An old idea — places where women share ideas, start businesses and take action together — gains new traction in 21st-century Richmond

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The following is a sneak peek from our March issue, on its way to newsstands now.

Ali Greenberg fell in love with Richmond in 2016. Looking for a place to reset and slow down after four years in New York City, she saw Richmond as an ideal new home: simultaneously exciting and restful; ambitious and laid-back; bursting with cool vibes but neighborly, too. But she felt it was missing a particular kind of space where she could meet and collaborate with some of the other women and nonbinary people making waves here. She envisioned something akin to New York’s The Wing, a social club and co-working space that has attracted members like actress and “Girls” creator Lena Dunham; model and trans activist Hari Nef; and rapper Remy Ma. None of the existing clubs quite fit Greenberg’s vision — so she got to work creating her own.

That creation was born as The Broad, a sleekly decorated second-floor women’s club in Monroe Ward that’s part library, part workspace, part social gathering spot — and hotly anticipated, with more than 85 members signed on before the doors even opened in early February. Membership is available in three tiers: Community members ($75/month) get evening and Saturday access along with programming like yoga classes, workshops and panel discussions; those interested in access to co-working space can upgrade to higher tiers ($125/month or $250/month).

The idea itself is nothing new. Richmond has a rich history of women carving out spaces of their own in which to socialize, share ideas, mobilize politically and start businesses, dating back to a time when the mere idea of women gathering outside the home was a bit provocative. And many of them were concentrated around the very area The Broad now calls home. Women’s exchanges, like the one founded at 300 E. Franklin St. in 1883, were some of the first ways for women to make a little money outside the home, by selling pickles, pies, jams, linens, lace and other handmade items. Richmond’s Woman’s Exchange kick-started more than a few female-owned businesses, including Sally Bell’s Kitchen.

“Social and work spaces for women are still so important today.” —Dr. Melissa Ooten, gender research specialist at the University of Richmond

The Woman’s Club of Richmond launched not long after, in 1894, and it exists to this day as a social club for women focused on arts and education. Amelia Earhart, Martha Graham and JFK have all spoken there, and some of Richmond’s most influential women — like Mary Munford and Ellen Glasgow — have been members. “The history of women in Richmond is really the history of the Woman’s Club,” says its executive director, Diane Beirne.

Tearooms of the 1910s and ’20s, like Richmond’s Rosegill at 20 W. Franklin St., provided another space where women could gather and socialize at a time when they were often barred from public dining rooms without a male escort. These spaces frequently served as an incubator for women’s involvement in community and political issues of the time; the owner of the Rosegill, Fannie Jones, was involved with the Virginia League of Women Voters.

Women of color were, unfortunately, mostly excluded from these early clubs and societies, and so they had to create their own: Virginia Randolph worked to establish the Colored Industrial Exchange in 1916; Richmonder Maggie L. Walker was tremendously active in women’s clubs in the black community, founding the Richmond Council of Colored Women and leading the International Order of St. Luke, an organization that admitted both women and men but focused on the needs of African-American women, from 1899 until her death in 1934. Richmond also has been home to branches of other national organizations and sororities focused on African-American women over the years, like the Richmond Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta, formed in 1937; and the Richmond chapter of The Links, founded in 1952.

Over time, membership in many clubs dwindled as women fought their way into more spaces previously reserved for men. But interest is once again surging. “I think it only takes a brief look at our contemporary news cycle — with so many stories related to sexual harassment and assault against women — to see why social and work spaces for women are still so important today,” says Dr. Melissa Ooten, gender research specialist at the University of Richmond. “Historically, women were either relegated to the unpaid work of the home or the deeply exploitative work of domestic and field labor. There was little space for [them] in public venues that conferred power.”

Women’s clubs, then and now, serve as refuges and allow women to support each other. Today’s organizations cover a range of niches: The Richmond Powerhouse is a nonprofit private social club focused on connecting female entrepreneurs, professionals and small business owners. The Woman’s Club of Richmond remains dedicated to the arts, education and community works, hosting lectures and workshops; working to preserve the historic Bolling Haxall House, which it has occupied since 1900; and providing scholarship funds to help women pursue education. And other regional clubs, special-interest groups and volunteer groups abound, from neighborhood organizations to wine meet-ups to garden clubs.

“And unlike many women’s clubs of the past,” Ooten says, “the best of these spaces today prioritize inclusivity in terms of actively recruiting women of all races, offering ways for women with fewer financial resources to join, welcoming LGBTQ folks and utilizing a framework of understanding gender beyond a binary system.”

Greenberg hopes to make The Broad live up to that ideal. She plans to partner with local businesses and nonprofits and eventually offer sliding-scale memberships and programming to ensure the club reflects the diversity of the city itself. And “anyone that identifies with the concept of being a broad, including trans women and nonbinary folk,” is welcome, she says.  

Ngiste Abebe, co-founder of Aulenor, a woman-owned consulting firm empowering social impact organizations as they grow, is one member of The Broad who’s looking forward to getting involved. “We spend a lot of time in male-dominated spaces,” she says. “We deserve a space dedicated to us.”