List of women's clubs

Many local clubs and national or regional federations were influential in history.

In the United States, the General Federation of Women's Clubs (GFWC) became the primary umbrella organization of women's clubs in the United States.

"For the later part of the nineteenth century and much of the twentieth century, the women's clubs were an essential vehicle for women's activity outside of the home.

"[1]: 8  In New Mexico alone, a state federation grew to include 59 clubs.

[2] In Australia, the Country Women's Association had numerous clubs.

Most historical women's clubs served social and charitable purposes, most of which may seem relatively uncontroversial today.

These purposes have included voluntary civic service purposes such as: Some women's groups with a more activist political orientation which used "club" in their name, such as perhaps the Alpha Suffrage Club which fought for black female suffrage in Chicago, are included here, too.

In the United States a number of clubs were established, and corresponding buildings were built, in the early 1900s as part of a scheme by publisher Edward Gardner Lewis to promote sales of Woman's Magazine,[4] but many more were independent organizations.

Numerous women's club buildings have been evaluated for listing on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) individually or as part of wider collections.

Historic preservation studies have been conducted for women's clubhouses in Florida,[5] in Illinois,[4] in New Jersey,[6] in New Mexico,[2] and in Olympia, Washington[7] Women's clubs in the United States were indexed by the GFWC, and also by Helen M. Winslow who published an annual "register and directory" of the GFWC ones and some more, which was in its 24th annual edition in 1922.

[8] The GWFC did not admit clubs for African-American women, and Winslow's directory seems to omit them too.

Various clubs for black women / African American women are included by state below, but see also Category:National Association of Colored Women's Clubs which includes a number of them.

[8]: 64  In 1932, the Arizona Republic listed 66 federated clubs throughout the state.