Girl Power: Organising days and nights out for women through Facebook

Girls just don’t need a boy, they also want new friends to have a laugh with, says Paula Burns, as she checks out a Facebook page organising days and nights out for women.

Imagine you’re sitting on a Friday evening swiping away through Tinder, mostly to the left, when suddenly a girl pops up as a possible match. You re-check the settings to make sure that you have, in fact, set yourself up as a female looking for a bloke, when you realise, actually, that this girl is looking for friends.

Last year, Elva Carrie was bored trolling through the wastelands of online dating. There was a gig she fancied going to, but all her mates had plans, so with a little tweaking, she updated her profile and put an invite out there to the other single girls of Dublin. It was the best Tinder response she’d had yet, with over 100 girls making her a match overnight.

“I figured I wasn’t the only single girl out there who sometimes found themselves at a loose end, without somebody to go to a gig or something like that with. So, I just thought I’d give it a shot to see what would happen. I really didn’t expect the huge response that I got,” explains Elva. The following week, Elva and her sister headed into town to meet their first “friend” date.

To some, this may sound a little crazy, crazy because it is the internet after all and it’s known for being full to the brim of crazies. Lest not forget, though, that thousands of us who use online dating are perfectly happy to head out and meet a guy we’ve never met on our own. In reality, that is a lot crazier than meeting a group of girls your own age in a pub.

This was back in March 2014. Due to the massive response Elva received, she exited Tinder and moved the group to Facebook, because it was more user-friendly and could reach a broader audience.

Girl Crew trips: enjoying Morocco

“We moved it to a Facebook group, because on Tinder the interaction was just one-on-one, so it was limiting. Facebook is easier and it allowed us to set it up as a closed group, so randomers couldn’t just have a look to see where a group of girls were heading to on a Saturday night.”

As the group began to grow, Elva realised she needed a little assistance with monitoring and so Aine Mulloy and Pamela Newenham, who she had met in the early days of the group became community managers.

“Essentially, the groups run themselves. Girls organise their own events, but the group still needs to be monitored, to ensure everyone is happy and it runs smoothly,” says Elva. “We also organise larger events, like the Newbie Drinks night each month.”

Initially set up as singles girl group, the inevitable question of opening it up to those who were in a relationship came up.

“This was probably one of the biggest decisions we had to make. In the beginning, everyone was single because it started out on Tinder, but as the group grew, some of the girls’ friends who weren’t single wanted to come to events, so we decided to make it open to all women,” says Elva.

This was probably one of the best moves the Girl Crew made. With a diverse range of woman joining the group, the choice of events is vast, from photography, to hiking, to going to the latest gigs. Some of the girls have even organised trips abroad and there is now a Dublin Mums’ group too.

Girl Crew trips: (Left) Surf ‘N’ Turf in Bundoran, Co Donegal

The Girl Crew is open to women of all ages, with one member in her 70s.

“It was great to see this lady join, her husband had passed away and some of her friends weren’t around anymore, but she still wanted to get out and socialise,” says Elva. When another woman of the same age group joined, they hit it off and have become great friends.

The power of the internet never fails to surprise. In a little over a year, there is now a Girl Crew in over 40 cities around the world, including New York, Sydney and even three in Texas. With over 14,000 members, there is a certain element of girl-power ringing through.

The Girl Crew works on a feminine level. The girls did try a Boys Crew, but it just didn’t catch on. When groups of woman come together, as they do in the Girl Crew’s case, feminism shines through. These groups show how well women can connect with each other, once bitchiness is set aside. It demonstrates how the ability to chat and step out of our comfort zone works in our favour.

Following the success of a previous event, another ‘Girl Group Pro’ will see female speakers chat about their success in different industries and how being a woman in the workplace has impacted their careers. It’s a long way from its birth on Tinder. It just shows that you never know where online dating could take you.

The Girl Crew is open to women of all ages, with one member in her 70s