China's Women-Only Co-Living Spaces Offer Safety, Independence and Community

A 30 Yuan Stay and a Place to Feel at Ease

For about 30 yuan a night, roughly $4.17, women staying at Keke's Imaginative Space near Hangzhou can find accommodation, company and a break from the expectations that follow them at work and at home. The rural retreat in Zhejiang province, eastern China, is part of a growing interest in communities where women can live, work and spend time together without men.

Chen Yani, the founder known as Keke, created the space after experiencing workplace harassment that made it difficult for her to work comfortably. Her response was practical: renovate a house in Lin'an, a suburb of Hangzhou, and make it somewhere women could rest, connect and carry on with their work without feeling apprehensive.

At the property, women prepare steamed buns together in a kitchen overlooking the mountains. Laughter and conversation accompany the cooking. Board games, coffee and shared meals give visitors ways to spend time together, while rustic furniture and calligraphy on the walls give the house the feel of a boutique hotel.

The attraction reaches beyond an inexpensive room. Participants describe relief from judgment, a sense of belonging and the freedom to talk about experiences that can be difficult to discuss elsewhere. Some come for a change of scenery. Others want distance from questions about marriage and children, or from the responsibilities attached to traditional family roles.

Across China, interest in spaces reserved for women extends to bars, gyms, hostels and hubs where people share a workplace. Rural communities such as Keke's Imaginative Space bring several of those needs together: somewhere to stay, somewhere to work and somewhere to find companionship.

As of September 1, 2025, these initiatives reflect changing social attitudes and women's pursuit of safety, independence and support. Their appeal also rests on something immediate and personal: being able to relax in the company of people who understand similar pressures.

How Harassment Led to a New Community

Chen Yani's experience of harassment was the starting point for Keke's Imaginative Space. She wanted an environment where women could feel safe and relaxed, rather than worry about unwanted attention while trying to work.

Chen described how her experiences led her to imagine a different kind of workplace:

I encountered various degrees of harassment from men, to the point where I often found myself unable to work normally. I started thinking about what a safe and relaxed work environment would look like—a place where I wouldn't feel apprehensive.

After renovating the house in Lin'an, Chen invited women to stay over the Chinese New Year holiday. Twelve women attended. Their reasons varied, but they shared an interest in peace, company and freedom from social expectations.

The holiday gathering offered an alternative to a period that, for some participants, brought intrusive questions from relatives about getting married or having children. For others, the opportunity to spend time somewhere different was enough reason to join.

Chen's project connects workplace concerns with choices about daily life. A visitor can use the same environment to work, rest and meet other women. The sense of safety participants seek includes both freedom from harassment and the ability to spend time without feeling watched or judged.

What Participants Mean by Freedom

Zhang Wenjing, 43, described the comfort of being in an environment reserved for women. For her, feeling safe and being able to speak easily were closely connected.

Zhang explained the appeal:

An all-women environment makes me feel safe. Among women, we talk more easily about certain things.

Chen Fangyan, 28, pointed to a more everyday form of physical comfort. Her description showed how freedom in these communities can mean relief from small, familiar expectations about how women should present themselves.

Chen Fangyan put it simply:

Not being forced to wear a bra is already a kind of freedom.

Participants also value being able to discuss intimate subjects openly and support one another through shared experiences. The absence of men gives them room to talk about matters they may find harder to raise in other settings.

Women facing workplace discrimination, sexual harassment or demanding family expectations can arrive with several pressures at once. Within families, women are often expected to care for children and grandparents, manage household chores and continue meeting their professional responsibilities. Those combined demands can leave them isolated and overwhelmed.

The communities offer a temporary change in those conditions. Visitors can step away from familiar roles and decide how to spend their time, while finding company rather than being alone.

Shared Meals, Nature and Short Stays

Keke's Imaginative Space combines accommodation with ordinary activities that help visitors get to know one another. Cooking, eating, playing board games and drinking coffee create opportunities for conversation without requiring a formal meeting or programme.

The surrounding natural setting provides a retreat from city life. Across these communities, activities can include group cooking, hiking and creative workshops. Participants have opportunities for personal growth and to reconnect with nature, alongside the emotional support they receive from one another.

The nightly charge at Keke's starts at about 30 yuan, with costs increasing after several days. That pricing arrangement encourages shorter visits and keeps the community changing as new women arrive.

Short stays give the project a particular role. Women can come for a holiday, a break or a period of rest without making a permanent move. The initial Chinese New Year gathering illustrates how a temporary stay can still provide meaningful relief from social pressure.

Other communities use a different arrangement. Her Space, in Xiuxi village, asks women to pay a membership fee of 3,980 yuan, about $550, to join its club. More than 120 women have signed up, attracted by the promise of a spiritual haven and somewhere to turn during difficult periods.

Her Space Offers Somewhere to Go

Yang Yun, the founder of Her Space, describes the community as a place women can return to when their circumstances change. Her vision includes women dealing with the loss of work or family, conflict at home and exhaustion from living in a city.

Yang explained why she wanted to establish that place:

The idea was to ensure women always have a place to go. If a woman loses her job, her parents, has an argument with her husband, or feels exhausted by city life, she knows she can come here and find some warmth.

The membership model and the nightly fee at Keke's represent different ways of organising access. Keke's encourages a flow of shorter visits, while Her Space invites women to join a club built around the idea of having somewhere to turn.

Yang also sees value in knowing that such a community exists, even before a woman needs to visit. She argues that having a place to find support, whatever a woman's circumstances, can provide mental strength and a sense of security.

For participants, physical safety is one part of the attraction. Emotional support, companionship and a chance to recover from difficult experiences are also central to what these communities offer.

How Women Find These Spaces

Xiaohongshu, also known as Rednote, has helped women discover these communities and the different ways of living they represent. Through social media, women share their experiences, find others with similar interests and learn about spaces they might otherwise never encounter.

Online connections also help organisers arrange events, recruit members and spread information about safe environments. A rural property can reach women living far away, while prospective visitors can learn about the experience through other participants.

Growing economic independence and access to education give more women the resources and freedom to make choices about where and how they live. As more women pursue higher education and professional careers, they have more options for spending money and time on their own needs.

Yuan Xiaoqian, 29, a participant in one of the communities, linked that wider range of choices to women's changing circumstances:

Women's increasing economic independence—as well as educational opportunities—means a wider scope of options. They can focus more on themselves and on new needs.

The relationship between those changes and the communities is concrete. Financial resources make a paid stay or membership possible, while online networks help women discover that the option exists. Together, they allow women to explore arrangements outside the routines of work and family.

The demand reaches urban centres as well as rural areas. Spaces reserved for women now serve different purposes, from exercise and socialising to accommodation and shared work, reflecting a range of needs rather than a single preferred lifestyle.

Beijing's Half the Sky Looks Beyond Family Life

In Beijing, Lilith Jiang founded Half the Sky, a cultural space exclusively for women seeking a lifestyle outside traditional expectations. Jiang believes such facilities fill a gap by giving women opportunities to socialise and support one another beyond established family structures.

Jiang points to the opportunities men have to spend time together through drinking, sports and other activities. Women, she argues, often lack comparable spaces where they can build those connections.

Her argument also looks beyond a short visit or a cultural event. For single women worried about growing older alone, a lasting community could provide companionship outside marriage.

Jiang described shared living as a possible answer to a familiar warning directed at unmarried women:

Women are constantly told: If you don't get married, what will become of you when you get older? But long-term, all-female shared co-living spaces where women can grow old together could be a solution.

That proposal connects the immediate appeal of women sharing space with a longer view of support and belonging. Jiang presents it as a possible living arrangement for women who want company as they age without organising their lives around marriage.

Organisers Respond to Criticism

Critics argue that spaces reserved for one gender can encourage antagonism between men and women and contribute to social division. Some men have accused these communities of promoting "man hate", while others question why such places are needed in modern society.

Organisers and participants reject those accusations. Chen Yani says the purpose is to create an environment where women feel safe and understood, rather than to encourage hostility toward men. Although the accommodation is exclusively for women, she describes its motivation in terms of shared needs and empathy.

Chen explained why women may find support in one another's company:

Women constitute a social group with shared life trajectories and problems. It's often easier for them to understand each other and show empathy.

Yang Yun's account of Her Space places the same focus on support. A woman experiencing exhaustion, bereavement, unemployment or conflict at home would know there was somewhere she could go to find warmth.

Jiang's argument centres on the social opportunities women need outside family life. Together, the founders describe their projects as responses to gaps in women's everyday lives: safety while working, room to speak openly, companionship and a place to recover when circumstances become difficult.

The debate therefore concerns both access to spaces reserved for women and the needs those spaces are trying to meet. For the participants who describe feeling safe and comfortable, those needs are immediate rather than abstract.

Demand Grows While Finances Remain Difficult

Most of these spaces are not yet profitable, even as interest in safe and supportive communities grows. Founders such as Chen Yani remain optimistic, placing value on the demand and the sense of belonging their projects provide.

The fees illustrate the different ways organisers are trying to sustain their communities. Keke's charges for overnight stays and raises the price after several days. Her Space charges for membership. Both arrangements connect access to payment, while offering different forms of participation.

The growth of these spaces reflects women gaining economic power and educational opportunities, challenging traditional gender roles and seeking new ways to live and connect. Their popularity also points to increasing recognition of women's desire for safety, autonomy and self-expression.

Interest in the idea extends beyond China. In South Africa, commentators have suggested that communities reserved for women could provide similar benefits, including refuge from a society dominated by men and opportunities for mutual support.

The Chinese experience shows women using the resources and freedom available to them to create communities suited to their needs and aspirations. As social attitudes evolve, more women may seek out or establish similar places in China and elsewhere.

For now, the clearest changes are visible in the choices already being made: 12 women joining a holiday gathering in Lin'an, more than 120 signing up for Her Space, and women in Beijing finding a cultural space outside traditional family expectations. Each initiative offers a different way to make safety, independence and companionship part of daily life.

Key Points

• Women-only communities are gaining popularity in China, including rural Zhejiang and urban Beijing.
• Chen Yani created Keke's Imaginative Space after workplace harassment; stays start at about 30 yuan a night, roughly $4.17.
• Twelve women joined the initial Chinese New Year gathering at the renovated house in Lin'an.
• Her Space in Xiuxi village charges a membership fee of 3,980 yuan, about $550, and has attracted more than 120 women.
• Participants seek safety, open conversation, emotional support and relief from workplace and family pressures.
• Xiaohongshu, also called Rednote, helps women discover communities, share experiences and organise activities.
• Lilith Jiang's Half the Sky in Beijing offers a cultural space for women and a vision of shared living as women grow older.
• Organisers reject accusations of hostility toward men and describe their purpose as meeting women's needs.
• Most spaces are not yet profitable, but founders remain optimistic about demand.