this post was submitted on 22 Aug 2025
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Well clearly, if everyone was genuinely fine with it then no harm done – but the fact there was a “men’s shed” group to begin with shows there was a need for one, and letting women in kind of defeats the purpose.
There’s no doubt the group dynamic changes when a woman is present. Virtually every man has experienced this firsthand. And while not a perfect equivalent, if a women’s gym started accepting men, I doubt anyone would call that progress. It was a women-only gym for a reason.
There’s men’s sheds all over Australia, every town has one. I can find like 5 within 10 minutes in my city.
They’re mostly hubs for retired old men, so that they can still get busy with their hands and socialise as many suffer extreme depression after retirement.
So the men’s part is more about how it’s traditionally masculine things like drinking beer or working with power tools. Although I’m sure there are men who feel safer and more accepted talking with other men going through it the same things as them.