Contact: femspace@gmail.com

Femspace, conceptualized in January 2000, is a female-centered space that exists to stimulate thought and encourage discourse regarding different issues that confront us. My mission is to ceate "a space of our own" in which we define what is important to us, and how issues affect us. This space of our own extends much farther than this site. It's a global network of women connecting and interconnecting online through websites around the world. I will be linking to many feminist and news sites in order to gain insight into the global female existence. Likewise, I invite others to link to Femspace.

This process is similar to the vision of Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web. Berners-Lee envisions the web as a powerful force for social change and individual creativity. I am envisioning an interactive female community in which we all contribute to the content, and come up with solutions and suggestions for social change.

This site arises out of my craving for sisterhood that is nowhere to be found outside of academia.

This site arises out of my craving for sisterhood that is nowhere to be found outside of academia. It represents my personal need to connect to women as sisters and not competitive enemies. I was spoiled in college where I indulged in women's issues, where I was surrounded by women who shared a similar thirst to connect with other women. It was a time of self-discovery, healing, and transcendence.

The togetherness and connectedness I felt existed between women soon vanished as I entered the corporate workplace. Females become really ugly as I watched them destroy each other on their way towards the top. They don't ever seem to get there, but the process of putting other women down, I felt, often gave them a false, yet comforting, sense of mobility. It was disappointing to watch this happening around me and to me. Who are the enemies? In my feminist classes, I learned they were men, racism, sexism, and the patriarchal society we live in. Not each other. Time for a double take.

As I was assembling this site, I was comforted to know that I am not alone. I am just new to the scene. Sarah Banda Purvis in her book, "The Illusion of Inclusion, Myths & Misconceptions Every Working Woman Needs to Know," analyzes this widespread phenomenon of why women don't help each other out in the workplace. She posits that it could be due to women's insecurity about their role or status in the male-dominated workplace, and their socialization to please men who supposedly will take care of them, among other things. Women in the workplace often see few benefits to bond or align with other females, who traditionally, as a gender, have less influence and income potential. Furthermore, Purvis observes that when they do get to management positions, they "can be more egocentric, more condescending and more tyrannical with subordinates than most of their male counterparts".

I always felt so alone in my alienation from other women in the workplace. The exaggeratedly mean-spiritedness and competition I felt from other females at work was a reality. If part of the problem is that we have not been taught to bond with each other, then we need to make up for some lessons. Though females individually may not have enough influence, we need to bond together and help each other get ahead in the world. Collectively, we will have tremendous influence. Though this is a tall order to ask of our gender, it's what I am commited to doing individually.

Femspace is not just for women but also for women in the making. I think that role models are important in our development. I wouldn't have made it through all these years if I wasn't blessed with strong women around me. Just as our mothers and guardians have helped us mature into the women that we are today, we need to help those who are in the process of growing become strong and intelligent women.

I am tremendously excited about the power of web and Femspace. I hope that it will enable us to unite in sisterhood across physical, racial, and class boundaries. It's where sisters across the world can unite and contribute. I welcome and look forward to submissions from all of you. It'll let me know that I am not alone, that we are not alone in how we feel about issues that affect our existence. Your comments and suggestions will be posted on this site if you want to share with others.

Femspace is a space I hope we can unite and celebrate our achievements, share our experiences, and heal our pains. I hope to learn from all of you; I hope we can share with each other. Femspace will be updated daily so check back often. This will be an exciting journey. It's our space to breathe, to discover, and to grow.

In Sisterhood,
Kathy Chin