Secret Societies for Women in the US : What Is It and How to Join Them?
I clearly remember 2013 year, it was our honeymoon when my husband and I were sitting on the balcony of Allure of the Seas, having relaxing business talks, and there it struck us, the idea of creating an application that would help tourists plan their cruises. A few years later, we started working on this idea far away in Kyiv, Ukraine. In early 2016, we were invited to join one of the Texas business accelerators. Later on, at the end of 2016, we found ourselves in the United States, in Dallas. My managing position in the startup (I’m the technical director) let me discover a phenomenon I never even knew existed (well, in Eastern Europe, I was not aware of it), namely the secret (and not very secret) societies for women.
How can a starting entrepreneur join influential female societies?
A week later, after moving to the US with our startup CruiseBe, I was invited to attend the meeting of businesswomen and c-level female executives. It turned out that such meetings are usually not being advertised — one can get to them only upon the invitation or recommendation. Besides, there was no formal membership. Every month about 15 women gathered in their houses or some open spaces to discuss business trends, various industry overviews, and other topics from politics to make-up. Each time, the members of the meeting group changed a bit, which made it even more exciting. As a result, you are making new connections with newly arrived women and strengthen relations with already familiar members from previous meetings.
Later on, after some research, I found out about various organizations that unite women in tech, businesswomen, and female entrepreneurs. Frankly, many of these business societies are quite formal. I think, therefore, it is better to find communities based on narrower interests and industry. As for me, the communities for women in tech were the most interesting. For example, I have become a member of the women’s organization from Google — Women Techmakers. Such organizations are not kept in secret, but to join them, you have to fill out applications, go through a selection process, or have recommendations. As for meetings and networking events, sometimes they are free, and sometimes you need to buy tickets.
Besides, there are big women’s societies that bring together prominent women, opinion leaders, directors, senior managers, and politicians. Some organizations have membership options and different levels of participation. Almost always, you have to pay for membership, but it is worth it.
Quite often, such meetings are local, depending on the city or state. For example, in Dallas, quite popular are events from Dallas Women’s Foundation, Dallas Women Entrepreneurs, Glass Heel. These are significant events that take place in conference rooms of chain hotels, business centers, or exhibition halls. Surprisingly, such societies have been most effective for me because you can get connected with like-minded people and leaders of different industries in our local area.
You’ll have a chance to meet with speakers after the conference during networking dinner or breaks between sessions.
What makes American women join together?
At the beginning of the 19th century, organizations for women were founded as religious groups by churches, and their main activity was charity. A little later, African-American and then white women began to join together to fight against slavery. However, such societies did not have a systemic structure until the beginning of the 20th century.
The 20th century was the time of the rise of “women’s clubs”.
Women from the same church united together and did charity, helped the military and wounded during the war. A separate popular American tradition is “book clubs”. Even nowadays you can find lots of local book clubs, and usually, there only women members.
Such societies were a powerful force of social change; often, the activities of these organizations influenced specific reforms and led to changes in society. Women’s associations actively opposed and fought lynching, segregation, and defended women’s rights to work and vote. They were also concerned about education, the protection of the environment, assistance to widows, and orphans.
Thanks to women’s clubs, now we have modern pre-school educational institutions, juvenile justice, and the concept of children’s rights protection, modern parks, and recreational areas.
For example, world-renowned sequoias in California have been rescued because of the protests of local women’s clubs. Famous Everglades National Park in Florida was created thanks to the Federation of Women’s Clubs in Florida. It was women’s clubs that became one of the first to fight against the “garbage mafia” in the United States. And there are plenty of examples like that.
Why do many women in the United States dream of joining the “Belizean Grove?”
One of the most influential modern women’s organizations is the closed club “Belizean Grove.” This New York organization unites more than 100 powerful women from different fields. They say the name appeared because of meetings in Belize, and the aim of the society is the increase of representation of women in politics and business.
Some women’s organizations are world-famous, for example, “UN Women,” The Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, The National Organization for Women, and others. For the most part, such organizations defend the rights of women, fight for equality, against wars and discrimination. Women’s organizations help bridge the gap in economic opportunities between men and women.
In September 2017, our company was selected to represent our country Ukraine in the Ukrainian pavilion at TechCrunch Disrupt SF’17. There were significantly more men than women at this conference. A vivid example of this was a rare phenomenon — long queues for the men’s rooms and almost empty women’s. Nevertheless, each year, the number of women at the tech conference is increasing.
No matter what, women do not miss the opportunity to meet each other, talk, and share experiences and knowledge. Breakfasts, meetings, or panel discussions for women are organized at almost every big technical conference. And do you know the advantage of women at conferences? As the wife of a man who is a founder of a company, I know the answer: men do not organize such breakfasts and meetings.
Various world organizations (political, cultural, international, etc.) until recently, members were almost exclusively only men. Men are also accustomed to spending their free time together — on the hunt, playing billiards or golf — which helps them to establish relationships and have productive networking.
As a woman entrepreneur in the industry that even in the United States is still considered to be male-dominated, I can confidently say, women can cooperate, find like-minded people, share experiences and help each other to build a greater society for next generations.
This article was previously published in Ukrainian media via the link.
