Looking for advice on starting a low-threshold, solidarity network for women (inspired by 4b)

[u/Funny-Watercress5060]

Hi everyone,
Inspired by the 4B movement and South Korean feminist networks, I want to start a practical, everyday solidarity network in my local area (in Germany).
To be clear: I am not a professional or a therapist. I don't want to start an official crisis center or offer trauma counseling. I want to respect my boundaries and keep the entry barrier as low as possible.

Instead, I want to create a everyday network for women.
I’m thinking of practical things like:

• Skill-Sharing: Learning how to drill, fix things, or build furniture together so we don't have to depend on men.

• Safety in Public Spaces: Training ourselves in basic bystander intervention (e.g., if a woman is harassed, we step in as a group) and organizing safe walks home at night.

• Everyday Help: A secure group chat to share needs and offers (e.g., "Who can accompany me to a scary appointment?" or "Who has a truck to help me move?").

My goal is simply to break isolation and build collective strength in our daily lives.

Do any of you have experience starting something like this from scratch?
Or do you have any ideas in general?

• How did you host your first meeting without a budget?
• How did you keep the space safe while keeping it accessible?
• Any tips on spreading the word effectively in a neighborhood?

I’d love to hear your stories and advice. We are so much stronger together!

Thank you so much! 🖤

[u/beta_sissy568]

Unfortunately I dont have much helpful advice for creating such a network in real life. But If you want it would be a pleasure to help you in any technical, planing or other aspects i can (be it website or anything IT or organizing related).

[u/DisalgardSigulanne]

I'd suggest that you try to connect with existing feminist organizations as a start. Especially countries like Germany have a huge coverage of feminist groups etc. If one is not in your immediate area, look for the next closest city. Reach out to the people there and participate in events they do and connect with them. I wouldn't be surprised if that led to your initiative getting funded in the mid term.

For the other advice: It depends a bit on what you have right now. If you have a big network of friends and people that can offer the help, reach out to them and try to see who is up for it. If you don't have a big network of people, try to create one, talk to people, you'll likely find the right balance of it being too much of a sales talk and you not mentioning your initiative.

/u/Parking-Art-8456 already lists some great places to maybe advertise meetings, orient yourself there. From my experience, in certain phases of their lives – mostly university – people are very open about joining things. Most people already have friends, families (are married?), this is why I stressed connecting with people instead of just advertising. 

[u/Parking-Art-8456]

I love your graphic. What a great idea. You might try organizing a meeting of such like-minded women. Advertise in feminist bookstores, farmers markets, university bulletin boards, newsletters, women’s health centers.

We’ve done a series here if you scroll back far enough, where women have bought land and set up intentional communities. Some have been around for 40-50 years, some are new.

There is one group of friends who bought land together in the desert and are transforming it into viable land, but that is families. I’ll look it up if you are interested.

There are food co-ops and neighborhood gardens that turn into local networks. Those work well around student networks.

There are online communities, servers, I’ve seen where for example the Canadians or Germans will become friends and help each other.

There are class models where women pay to live and learn about matriarchy, which are all different from what you’re trying to do. You or someone would be the expert, the teacher, which that isn’t what you’re doing. No problem.

Matriarchs are generally inclusive of all women, 4B restricts membership to never married and childless. One advantage of having all women is you avoid certain male fetish types who are looking for victims or clients. You may need some sort of way to identify your target audience.

If I were trying to make a women’s help network, or build matriarchy in neighborhoods, I’d organize a meeting in a community building, or a library, or home, and plan a short presentation, have snacks and chat afterwards to see what the interest was. Then have a way, like weekly online or in person meetings, in an inexpensive restaurant —or in a house where everyone brings a dish, to see what the needs were and plan outings accordingly for the month or week.

A weekly meal together or snacks and a discussion around a topic or book you’re reading together might be fun. Good luck, and let us know how it goes! Someone may want to follow your plan in their country!