A vegetable garden, geese, but no man: this rural cottage is one of the female communities that swarm in China. Women seek relaxation and mutual aid there, far from socio-professional pressures and male judgments.
Their motivations? “Talking freely about intimate subjects”, “make friends” or “feeling safe”, explain the participants in this white house on a hillside.
After making meat steam breads in the kitchen with a view of the mountains, women chat in the cozy living room, where laughs are spinning around a board game and Latte cafes.
“A 100% female space is reassuring. Between women, we speak more easily about certain things ”, like romantic relationships and his injuries, says Zhang Wenjing, 43, a participant.
“In the presence of a man, we pay more attention” to our attitude, adds Chen Fangyan, 28 years old.
The participants pay 30 yuan ($ 5.76 Canadian) per night, then 80 yuan ($ 15.37) from the fourth day, in this place called “the imaginary universe of Keke”, from the nickname of the founder, Chen Yani, 30 years old.
Chen Yani, on the right, eats a meal with a friend in a community space reserved for women.
AFP
“During my professional and entrepreneurial experiences, I was harassed by men”, to the point “to be often unable to work normally”, she says adding that it was there that she began to think about “a place where one would not have an apprehension”.
Not “forced to play a role”
She then retape this house located in Lin’an, in the province of Zhejiang (in the east of the country) and organizes via the Xiaohongshu social network – the “Chinese Instagram”, also called Rednote -, a stay at home from Chinese New Year.
Twelve women come, in particular to escape the intrusive questions of their parents during the holidays – the pressure in China to marry before 30 years being particularly strong.
“With the family, women often have to take care of grandparents, children, household. Not to mention responsibilities at work, ”notes Chen Yani.
“Mental force”-a place where they are not forced to play a role “, she underlines.
AFP
Thanks to their economic independence and a higher level of studies, women today have more choices, says Yuan Xiaoqian, 29, another participant.
And on Rednote in particular, these female communities are increasing.
“Mental force”
For a few days or months, they offer more than accommodation: they want places of solidarity between women.
Like the one Yang Yun, 46, opened a village in Zhejiang in early June. A place with a charming hotel, with raw furniture and calligraphy on the walls.
Against 3,980 yuan (around $ 765 Canadians) for membership of this club, named “its space”, members can come there at any time and for life.
“If she loses her job, her parents, arguing with her husband, is exhausted by urban life, she knows that she can come to find some warmth,” explains Ms. Yang, who claims 120 members. It gives them mental strength. ”
Members can become partners, by investing in the renovation of village houses, which they can then rent to tourists.
AFP
These unmixed spaces are by certain accused of nourishing the antagonism between sexes which Chen Yani rejects.
“Like children or seniors […]women are a social group with life trajectories, similar problems. It’s easier to understand yourself and be empathy, ”she explains.
Colocations permanentes?
Other places reserved for women open in China.
“Men have a lot of opportunity to socialize, during watered evenings or by playing sports,” said Lilith Jiang, 34, founder in Beijing of the non-mixed bookstore “half of the sky”.
Exchange spaces that “women do not have,” she explains.
AFP
If Chen Yani concedes that her “economic model is not viable” she assures that “as long as there is a request, he will continue to exist” and “to invent another way of living”.
“Some constantly say to women:” If you don’t get married, what will you become getting older? “, Underlines Lilith Jiang.
For her, alternative to romantic relationships, “100% female roommates in the long term, to age between women, it could be a solution”.
