Women-led clubs are springing up across the country, with many young women coming together to find community and creativity. These events are redefining what socialising looks like in 2025.
When Taylor Swift’s new album The Life of a Showgirl dropped earlier this month, young women across the world gathered together for listening parties, including one hosted by Sydney’s Glitter Gel Pen Book Club.
It's one of a growing number of women-led gatherings that offer safe, supportive environments. These are places to celebrate girlhood and connections, while also giving women an outlet for both creativity and community.
Junk journaling is one of the most popular and requested creative spaces for women Supplied
"I really, truly believe that in 2025, kind and wholesome connection is needed now more than ever before," says Jessica Rose, the founder of a similarly feminine space, Scrap Soiree.
The demand for these spaces is clear. Thousands of videos have been posted online under hashtags like #DIY, #GirlsNightCrafts and #CraftGirl, attracting millions of views. And this digital momentum has translated into clubs where women meet to read books, scrapbooks and craft.
These clubs offer a rare third space for authentic connection. They also counter the trivialisation of women’s interests and provide refuge from toxic masculinity.
Reading about relevant issues
Sydney’s Glitter Gel Pen Book Club, founded earlier this year by sisters Brittany and Ellese Ferdinands, has experienced the demand first hand. In just two months, the book club’s Instagram account grew to more than 700 followers.
"I wanted to read light and fluffy things and chat about them with the girls," Brittany says. "[Book club is] an excuse to go out and have wine with the girls and meet new people."
Last month, the club hosted a sold-out screening of the Netflix drama, The Summer I Turned Pretty, based on Jenny Han’s beloved novel trilogy. This wasn’t an isolated surge of interest: searches for "TSITP watch party" spiked across Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane on the show’s release date.
"It’s rare to have a show like that, we haven’t had one in so long," Brittany says. "It’s nice sitting with a room of like-minded girls and watching a show that is so nostalgic and [that] people can resonate with."
Brittany explains that their book selections often explore themes relevant to young women today,
"These stories touch on a lot of issues that girls in their twenties and thirties face, whether it’s work issues, identity crises, choosing a life path."
Young women like to explore texts that often reflect on who they are and what they are through identity, romance or work. As Rita Felski, an academic and critic, says "text offer us new ways of seeing ourselves … heightened self apprehension."
Space to be feminine
The same desire for community drives Scrap Soirée, a Sydney-based scrapbooking/junk journaling club founded by 21-year-old Jessica Rose. Junk journaling involves decorating a book using either collected or recycled materials.
"I think clubs like Scrap Soirée represent a reclamation of real feminine connection in our digital age," Jessica says.
Her passion for scrapbooking began in childhood. "As I've grown up, this love for crafting has never left," she explains. "And with the rise of junk journaling on social media, it has only grown."
Often, things women enjoy are perceived as silly and trivialized. Activities like watching rom-coms, doing make-up, reading and showing an interest in fashion and art are labelled as girly.
Creative spaces allow women to express their femininity without fear of judgement. Supplied
"Spaces like Scrap Soirée offer a refuge from this trivialisation of women’s interests," Jess said. "Instead celebrating what I see as a uniquely feminine form of power, celebrating nostalgic interests instead of reducing them to comfort those who make fun of us."
For her, the value of these clubs is clear. "Women need safe spaces to let their passions flourish uninhibited by misogynistic attitudes towards loud expressions of femininity," she says.
A 2023 study by Harvard Business Review showed that working together on creative tasks fosters connections and strengthens bonds, so these clubs are a natural outlet for women seeking both creativity and community.
"The most rewarding part of Scrap Soirée has been seeing girls meet for the first time and then come back month after month to reconnect, catch up and create," Jessica says.
Crafting connections
Crafters Commons is a community craft space in Wollongong, founded by Cali Russell and opened in early February.
"[I felt] increasingly disheartened by the state of the world …. I really was looking for something to do, some way to influence positive change in Wollongong," she says.
The club hosts organise monthly meet-ups where individuals bring their own craft (BYOC).
Crafters Commons allows young women to foster connection whilst engaging with their hobbies. Supplied
"We have a lot of knitters and junk journalists, which I think reflects the current popularity of those specific crafts, but we have a wide range of crafts at every meetup," Cali says.
A recent study led by CQ University academic Michelle Cleary also found that those who engage with their hobbies do so for reasons like personal fulfilment, satisfaction of interest, and the chance to form meaningful new friendships.
While the club is inclusive of everyone, the majority of attendees identify as women.
"I think that is one of the things [about crafting] that appeals to women, as they mature and realise they may have lost some of their childlike whimsy, especially during adolescence and early adulthood," she says.
Historically, crafting has been a way to pass down shared knowledge and often it fosters authentic human connection.
"A lot of us are taught crafts by the women who raise us … we feel a sense of connection with these people, and with the traditions they have passed down," she says.
Creative clubs are safe third spaces that many young women seek. Supplied
Coming together to craft also creates that much-longed for third space.
"We have a severe lack of third spaces that don’t require you to spend money, which is especially hard during this cost of living crisis," Cali says.
