A Friendship of Women – The Importance of Female Friendships
How to Make Friends as an Adult | By: Katie Lister
April 25, 2024
Why is the friendship of women important? How can I cultivate and strengthen my female friendships? What are some common challenges women face in maintaining long-lasting friendships? What are the characteristics of lasting friendships among women? Find all the answers to these and related questions in this article.
Hi, my name is Katie Lister. I am a practicing Registered Nurse and the founder of Growth Gals. I lead personal development groups and coach women to live their best lives authentically. Growth Gals provides a safe space for women to connect with like-minded individuals, learn, and support one another while creating strong friendships.
Growth Gals provides safe spaces where women feel free to discuss various topics and everyday issues that are relatable to them. These include female advocacy, mental health, emotional intelligence, finding one’s life’s purpose, personal development, and navigating complex relationships, including friendships. In this article, I will talk about the friendship of women and why it is essential to have friends as a woman.
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Katie Lister
Written by Katie Lister, RN, BScN. An experienced Registered Nurse, Group Facilitator, Life Coach, and Community Leader. Read Katie's Full Author Bio
Why Are Women's Friendships So Beneficial?
As a woman, you probably know that there is nothing quite like having your very own tribe of female friends. With the right friends in your circle, female friendships are incredible sources of unwavering support, joy and comfort. Your female friends are the people who stay when you get a job, lose a job, get into a relationship or go through a separation or divorce.
Apart from offering unwavering support and unconditional love, much scientific research shows the importance of female friendships in your overall mental and physical health. Having a good support system impacts every aspect of your life. With the right friendships, you can lower stress and the possibility of early death, heart attacks, depression, or loneliness.
A Friendship of women is a source of honest feedback
Having a woman friend is an excellent way of always having someone who sees things differently whenever you need advice. Your female friends are the people on the outside looking into your life whose opinions you can trust and rely on. This can significantly positively influence your decision-making.
Your female friends are your sounding board. They take time to listen to your thoughts and ideas and give you honest feedback, which can be beneficial for personal growth. Having the right friends around you can also positively impact your self-esteem.
Female friendships are reliable
As an adult woman, one of the best things that can happen is having a solid network of girlfriends in your corner. The right female friendships are reliable and can last a lifetime. Regardless of the season you find yourself in, you can always count on the unwavering support you get from a friendship of women.
Female friendships foster personal growth
According to research, women thrive in same-sex environments. When women surround themselves with other women and build strong friendships, they create an environment that encourages personal growth, harnessing and sharpening skills and pushing one another to reach their full potential. Being part of a sisterhood can inspire creativity, encourage the pursuit of success, and create safe spaces for women to thrive.
What can I do when I realize I need a friend and have none? This article has all the answers.
They encourage female femininity
The world and different environments can often create patriarchal environments where existing in your feminine energy or embracing your feminine qualities is seen and undervalued as a sign of weakness. This leaves women pressured to suppress their empathy, sensitivity, and compassion to appear strong and deserving of equal opportunities.
Having female friendships allows women to be in feminine spaces where they can express themselves in their femininity without fear of being judged or failing to meet societal expectations. This enables women to cultivate friendships that honor their uniqueness.
Female friendships allow a deeper emotional connection
Most women’s friend groups and friendships are characterized by physical contact and a deep emotional intimacy among the friends. Being in a circle of female friends allows women to experience deep emotional connections that foster amazing conversations. This unique experience provides emotional satisfaction and contributes to individual overall well-being.
Female friendships help fight isolation and loneliness
Spending quality time with your girlfriends is good for your mental health. When surrounded by your groups of loving friends, your brain releases bonding hormones oxytocin and serotonin, which help you thrive in wellness. Life can get hectic and stressful. Spending time with people closest to you allows you to decompress and momentarily enjoy being in the company of people who make you feel safe. This goes a long way in fighting loneliness and isolation, both of which have become increasingly common among women.
To enjoy all the unique benefits associated with healthy female friendships, you need to know how to foster strong female friendships.
How Can You Foster a Friendship of Women?
Learn to be social and proactive
To be able to make and maintain friendships, you need to actively look for social opportunities that increase your chances of meeting female friends. This can include engaging in social activities in your local area, joining clubs and attending events where you can meet like-minded women. Put yourself out there and open yourself up to the possibility of meeting new people.
Being in these spaces allows you to meet other women with shared interests, which is an excellent foundation for strong friendships.
Don’t be afraid to initiate and maintain connections
You need to put in effort and show initiative to create and maintain strong friendships. You should not shy away from reaching out and initiating connections with people you feel have the potential to make amazing female friends with you.
Reach out to them, invite them to social outings and be interested in getting to know them. If you are serious about making new friends, you should not shy away from initiating connections.
Radiate positivity
Positivity is required when it comes to fostering and maintaining real friendships. You need to learn to cultivate positivity in your life to be a good friend. Positivity in a friendship provides an excellent foundation for uplifting and supporting each other. Being positive means striving to create an environment where your friends feel inspired, valued, and appreciated when they are around you. Radiating positive energy will also ensure you attract people with the same energy in your life.
Want to learn how to be a better friend? This article has everything you need.
Don’t be afraid to be vulnerable
Vulnerability is an essential component of deep friendships. With the right people, vulnerability helps build trust, dependability and commitment, which strengthens friendships over time. However, vulnerability should be reserved for already established connections. Deeper sharing is only encouraged once you have a group of female friends who have proven themselves trustworthy and who are able to meet you at the same level of intimacy.
Be open to forgiveness
Even the strongest female friendships are not perfect. Inevitably, they will encounter challenges, disappointments, and even conflict. It is important to make forgiveness a part of your friendship. Forgiving your friends whenever there is conflict is a good way of building understanding in the friendship.
Leaving room for forgiveness means that you understand your friends are humans and are, therefore, prone to making mistakes and sometimes falling short of your expectations. The same goes for you.
Make time for regular meets
Once you have your network of best friends, you need to maintain them. Planning regular meetings with each other helps deepen the connections and make your friendship a priority in your life. You can set aside time in your busy schedule to nurture friendships by planning weekly check-ins and regular face-to-face meetings.
Celebrate each other’s wins
Keeping jealousy and competition out of your friendships is the best way to encourage mutual support and keep toxic energy at bay. It is essential to continuously make a conscious effort to support your friends through their wins. This creates a safe space to celebrate one another’s accomplishments and achievements.
How Growth Gals Can Help You Find Your Friendship of Women
As an adult female, deciding to finally put yourself out there to meet new people and create your circle of trusted friends is not always easy. However, this is necessary if you want to build a strong network of supportive friendships that will transcend time and life seasons. Our aim at Growth Gals is to provide a safe space where women can come together and get the support they need as they navigate different life seasons, and make meaningful friendships. We also strive to inspire women to reach their full potential as we create positive change. We support women with the resources to discover their true selves and expand their knowledge base on various issues, such as navigating relationships, including nurturing and maintaining a friendship of women.
Subscribe to the Growth Gals newsletter to access trending news, resources, and helpful guides for women and learn more about how we can support you through your journey.
The Bottom Line
The healing and nurturing power of female friendships is undeniable. Women can build strong, meaningful friendships when they actively seek out new connections, initiate and work to maintain relationships, encourage positivity in their circles, and show vulnerability in their friendships. The right female friendships encourage mutual support, understanding, and personal growth.
