Feminist space in Columbia allows women to build each other up

Coffee flows, incense burns and women discuss issues important to them behind the doors of a pink house off Bull Street.

The group of 20 women were participating in Coffee with Liberal Women, a regular event hosted by We Believe Women. The event is hosted every first and third Friday of the month at Femme X, a coworking and social space for women. 

Sherri Garrett, the founder of We Believe Women, said the organization bloomed earlier this year out of a decades-long annual gathering in Columbia to support Brandeis University professor Anita Hill and a desire to connect young women with each other and with feminist causes. She said she found most young women are invested in finding deep connections when they join a group.

“I’ve met some of the most phenomenal women here and become friends with them,” Garrett said. “And women need that, right? And we’ve had some things that have happened recently with we believe women, where people have come in seeking that community.”

The group created We Believe Women after realizing younger generations were unfamiliar with Hill, who accused later-U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment, board member Wanda Austin said. She said the group was working to make the organization focused on more of a generational issue.

“You had women 20, 21 (years old who) said, ‘Who is Anita Hill and why is she relevant today?’” Austin said. “So Sherri had the brain child. Let’s not make it just about Anita Hill. Let’s make it We Believe Women in the issues like Anita Hill that are still happening today.” 

The goal of We Believe Women, Garrett said, is to uplift all women and create a safe space for them. She said We Believe Women has about 200 active members who interact and attend events ranging from happy hour meetings to networking events. 

She said the group provides a safe space for women of all backgrounds and identities, including queer women and women of color. The group is also a safe space for women to learn.

“A woman – everybody – black, white, gay, cis, fat, thin, rich, poor, disabled, abled, whatever that might be, creates a different experience of being a woman,” Garrett said. “And we need to think about that as we encounter other women in our lives.”

Not all women are supportive of other women and many women are conditioned to be judgmental of other women, Garrett said. She said it’s important to come to a safe space to discuss these issues and grow and learn about how to be a feminist and support other women.

During the group’s Nov. 1 meeting, members discussed the importance of having a community of accepting women in a very conservative state. They said they viewed it as a space away from having political arguments that could be uncomfortable.

One woman said she lost some friends because of political differences and said it can be hard to find people socially who are supportive of her viewpoints. All the women attending the meeting agreed it’s important that women not leave the state due to political differences with the status quo.

One of the main topics discussed, in light of the upcoming election, was reproductive rights. The group is interested in what various reproductive rights advocate groups are doing to make a change. And they are ready to see a change in South Carolina, where state lawmakers have outlawed abortion after six weeks of a pregnancy.

“I don’t want to hear anyone talk anymore,” one woman said. “I want to do something.”

Many of the women attending the Coffee with Liberal Women event are former and current occupants of Femme X’s coworking spaces. At Femme X, these women have started yoga studios, fashion design businesses, SEO agencies, pilates studios, networking groups and bookstores. 

Femme X has just more than 100 members. Founder Nell Fuller said she decided Columbia needed a place for women to network.

“I really founded the space because I didn’t see anything like it here,” Fuller said. “And it was the kind of space that I wanted to be in and hang out in. I wanted to be able to foster an environment for these types of connections to happen. So it was all about social, political and financial capital for women.”

Garrett said the Femme X and We Believe Women communities have been crucial to her and other women’s interpersonal lives. But now, the Femme X building is on the market, waiting to be sold. Fuller said she hopes Femme X can continue to exist outside its physical space.

“It’s saved a lot of us from isolation and being discouraged,” Garrett said. “In whatever way it can exist in a non-brick-and-mortar fashion, it’s going to be really important for us to keep.”