ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses coworking spaces owned and managed by women and new workplaces that have clear strategies to support and meet the specific needs of women. The primary aim of this chapter is twofold: (i) to explore the rise of new female-oriented workplaces; and (ii) to present the preliminary findings of an ongoing empirical study conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Semi-structured interviews with the managers of six coworking spaces in Europe are analyzed and complemented with desk research to provide a base for understanding the case of women-oriented spaces. As an important case of global network of coworking spaces, Impact Hub is also studied and compared to other cases. We maintain that the type of such spaces (coworking + childcare, women only, etc.) is shaped by welfare policies (e.g. maternity leave, public family support, public childcare services, etc.) and also cultural backgrounds regarding gender stereotypes.
