We take our inspiration from the Women's Institute of the United Kingdom.
The Women’s Institute (WI) was formed in 1915 with two clear aims: to revitalise rural communities and to encourage women to become more involved in producing food during the First World War. Since then our aims have broadened and we are now the largest women’s organisation in the UK. We celebrated our 90th anniversary in 2005 and currently have 208,000 members in 7,000 WIs.
We play a unique role in providing women with educational opportunities and the chance to build new skills, to take part in a wide variety of activities and to campaign on issues that matter to them and their communities.
(taken from the WI website)
The main purposes of the WI are to enable women who are interested in arts, crafts and sciences to improve conditions of their lives and others, and to advance their education in many areas, including music, drama, other cultural subjects, gardening, arts, and health.
Overall, the WI gives women the opportunity to work together through the organization and put into practice what they learn. The WI provides a centre for social intercourse and activities and may organise courses of instruction, lectures and other educational activities. This can take the form of learning new crafts and cookery, choosing a monthly book to read, as well as inviting guest speakers.
