{"id":15459,"date":"2025-02-20T15:50:45","date_gmt":"2025-02-20T14:50:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/?p=15459"},"modified":"2025-03-03T20:42:23","modified_gmt":"2025-03-03T19:42:23","slug":"its-a-mans-world-but-a-womans-cafe-draft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/15459\/its-a-mans-world-but-a-womans-cafe-draft\/","title":{"rendered":"It\u2019s a Man\u2019s World \u2013 but a Woman\u2019s Caf\u00e9"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Traditionally, public spaces have been places where people from all walks of life come together, sharing their daily routines. But what happens when half of the population is excluded? In recent years, several establishments, have decided to open their doors exclusively to women. But why? Is this a feminist statement, or is it a form of discrimination?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n
At first glance, “Besties” caf\u00e9 appears like any other. Pink furniture, the aroma of coffee in the air \u2013 a cozy, inviting atmosphere. However, one thing sets it apart: men are not allowed. Ibtissam Bendadi founded the caf\u00e9 in 2025 after recognizing the need for a women-only space. Her main motivations: More privacy, a greater sense of safety, and an escape from male-dominated environments. Not even her own husband is allowed inside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
While the concept of a women-only caf\u00e9 is new, women-exclusive spaces have existed in other fields for some time. Women-only gyms, for instance, are increasingly common. One such gym is “Proud Personal Training,” which focuses primarily on kickboxing. Founder and personal trainer Bo Wolterbeek aims to empower women both physically and mentally. One of their clients, 20-year-old student Anna, trains there three times a week. \u201cI can recommend kickboxing to anyone. The trainings are tough, but it really is a serotonin boost!\u201d she recounts. But why choose a women-only gym? Anna has a clear answer: \u201cThe atmosphere is just completely different, way more enjoyable. I\u2019m usually training in leggings and a sports bra and would feel very uncomfortable with men staring at me during my workouts.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For Anna, the decision to train in a women-only space is based on the need for a safe environment, free from unwanted male attention. A 2018 study by Statista revealed that 73% of Dutch women have experienced some form of sexual harassment since the age of 15. In this context, the desire for women-only spaces hardly seems irrational.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
The concept of female-only spaces is not a new one. It dates back to the second wave of feminism (1960-1980), particularly within the movement known as “Radical Feminism.” According to Dr. Laura Candidatu, a lecturer in Gender Studies at Utrecht University, radical feminists argued that women-only spaces were essential for escaping male violence and oppression. However, this perspective raises an important question: How do we define “woman”? Are trans women welcome in these spaces? Laura Candidatu is convinced that you have to consider them as well: \u201cTrans women, as a group, face compounded forms of discrimination and violence. You have to address these layers of oppression and create spaces where all women, including trans women, can find solidarity and safety.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, the debate remains: Is it fair to deny men access to certain public spaces? For Ibtissam Bendadi, the answer is clear: \u201cThere are many other places you can go to as a men,\u201d she says in an interview with the Dutch newspaper AD<\/em>. Dr. Candidatu agrees, with one condition: \u201cIf the intention behind these spaces is genuinely to provide safety and a supportive environment for women, I welcome them. If they are exclusively reserved for cisgender women, they reproduce discrimination against trans women.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Traditionally, public spaces have been places where people from all walks of life come together, sharing their daily routines. But what happens when half of the population is excluded? In recent years, several establishments, have decided to open their doors exclusively to women. But why? Is this a feminist statement, or is it a form […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3745,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15459","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-acls","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nIt\u2019s a Man\u2019s World \u2013 but a Woman\u2019s Caf\u00e9 - International Journalism<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"It\u2019s a Man\u2019s World \u2013 but a Woman\u2019s Caf\u00e9 - International Journalism\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Traditionally, public spaces have been places where people from all walks of life come together, sharing their daily routines. But what happens when half of the population is excluded? In recent years, several establishments, have decided to open their doors exclusively to women. But why? Is this a feminist statement, or is it a form […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/15459\/its-a-mans-world-but-a-womans-cafe-draft\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"International Journalism\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-02-20T14:50:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-03-03T19:42:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/378\/2025\/02\/20250216_181208.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1709\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1282\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Emma Padaurek\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Emma Padaurek\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/15459\/its-a-mans-world-but-a-womans-cafe-draft\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/15459\/its-a-mans-world-but-a-womans-cafe-draft\/\",\"name\":\"It\u2019s a Man\u2019s World \u2013 but a Woman\u2019s Caf\u00e9 - International Journalism\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/15459\/its-a-mans-world-but-a-womans-cafe-draft\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/15459\/its-a-mans-world-but-a-womans-cafe-draft\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/378\/2025\/02\/20250216_181208-1024x768.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-02-20T14:50:45+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-03-03T19:42:23+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/#\/schema\/person\/18824a3b02d881a23b498085005944e1\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/15459\/its-a-mans-world-but-a-womans-cafe-draft\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/15459\/its-a-mans-world-but-a-womans-cafe-draft\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/15459\/its-a-mans-world-but-a-womans-cafe-draft\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/378\/2025\/02\/20250216_181208.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/378\/2025\/02\/20250216_181208.jpg\",\"width\":1709,\"height\":1282},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/15459\/its-a-mans-world-but-a-womans-cafe-draft\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"It\u2019s a Man\u2019s World \u2013 but a Woman\u2019s Caf\u00e9\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/\",\"name\":\"International Journalism\",\"description\":\"HU School voor Journalistiek Nieuwssite\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/#\/schema\/person\/18824a3b02d881a23b498085005944e1\",\"name\":\"Emma Padaurek\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1280045e1ee396ee788f64298c5995ce?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1280045e1ee396ee788f64298c5995ce?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Emma Padaurek\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/author\/emma-padaurek\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"It\u2019s a Man\u2019s World \u2013 but a Woman\u2019s Caf\u00e9 - International Journalism","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"It\u2019s a Man\u2019s World \u2013 but a Woman\u2019s Caf\u00e9 - International Journalism","og_description":"Traditionally, public spaces have been places where people from all walks of life come together, sharing their daily routines. But what happens when half of the population is excluded? In recent years, several establishments, have decided to open their doors exclusively to women. But why? Is this a feminist statement, or is it a form […]","og_url":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/15459\/its-a-mans-world-but-a-womans-cafe-draft\/","og_site_name":"International Journalism","article_published_time":"2025-02-20T14:50:45+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-03-03T19:42:23+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1709,"height":1282,"url":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/378\/2025\/02\/20250216_181208.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Emma Padaurek","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Emma Padaurek","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/15459\/its-a-mans-world-but-a-womans-cafe-draft\/","url":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/15459\/its-a-mans-world-but-a-womans-cafe-draft\/","name":"It\u2019s a Man\u2019s World \u2013 but a Woman\u2019s Caf\u00e9 - International Journalism","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/15459\/its-a-mans-world-but-a-womans-cafe-draft\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/15459\/its-a-mans-world-but-a-womans-cafe-draft\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/378\/2025\/02\/20250216_181208-1024x768.jpg","datePublished":"2025-02-20T14:50:45+00:00","dateModified":"2025-03-03T19:42:23+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/#\/schema\/person\/18824a3b02d881a23b498085005944e1"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/15459\/its-a-mans-world-but-a-womans-cafe-draft\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/15459\/its-a-mans-world-but-a-womans-cafe-draft\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/15459\/its-a-mans-world-but-a-womans-cafe-draft\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/378\/2025\/02\/20250216_181208.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/378\/2025\/02\/20250216_181208.jpg","width":1709,"height":1282},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/15459\/its-a-mans-world-but-a-womans-cafe-draft\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"It\u2019s a Man\u2019s World \u2013 but a Woman\u2019s Caf\u00e9"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/#website","url":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/","name":"International Journalism","description":"HU School voor Journalistiek Nieuwssite","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/#\/schema\/person\/18824a3b02d881a23b498085005944e1","name":"Emma Padaurek","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1280045e1ee396ee788f64298c5995ce?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1280045e1ee396ee788f64298c5995ce?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Emma Padaurek"},"url":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/author\/emma-padaurek\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15459","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3745"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15459"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15459\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15881,"href":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15459\/revisions\/15881"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15459"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15459"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15459"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/378\/2025\/02\/20250216_181208-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/378\/2025\/02\/20250216_1653071-1-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n