Is the women’s institute becoming less and less democratic ?

[Marmaladelover]

So Women’s Institute is changing and not in a good way . It’s becoming more dictatorial, with decision making, more and more being centralised at National Headquarters . Major policy changes, making it nothing like the great institution, it used to be , only a few years ago .

We have already had their well publicised version of what a woman is in an updated policy ( wear a skirt for the day and you’ll past muster whatever sex you might be ) but I did think ( in my naivety ) that some aspects of core WI traditions were still sacrosanct .

The WI isn’t just known for their community involvement , they are also known for their campaigns for social justice and over the years have been at the forefront of difficult issues often changing women’s lives for good .

Were you aware that Keep Britain Tidy was a campaign in the early 50s and the WI were the ones who campaigned for universal contraceptives being available to all many moons ago ?

And the resolutions have all traditionally come from a democratic process . Any member could propose a resolution, which were whittled down to a smaller number by volunteer members to be voted on in a democratic manner by the whole of the WI (several hundred thousand members ) before being officially adopted . And with such a large membership you could expect a certain number of specialists in their own fields to be well equipped and knowledgable in their field to produce pretty good comprehensive proposals.

NOT ANY MORE !

The resolution process has already kicked off this year but it has since come to light that this isn’t now the democratic process it professes to be .

Instead a small few, employed people in the National HQ ( no more than 3?) who have no particular qualification to do so , rewrite submissions to the point of GERRYMANDERING and being completely unrecognisable; the hard work and research by the members is jettisoned turning them into new , bland resolutions, littered with errors and out of date information . And this is done without referring back to the authors ( who may well be experts ) And it is these resolutions, that are offered to the members to vote on .

And it would seem that National HQ hoped nobody would notice, hiding behind NDA for comfort .

So many WI members have complained in recent years about the blandness in what has been produced - now we know why !!!

This is madness, might be worth posting this in the Sex & Gender debate?

The madness that is the WI equality policy has been documented several times on the sex and gender forum ( always happy to revive that aspect !)

But this about gerrymandering in a democratic purpose .

although I am aware that some WI members do lurk over there …..

The WI has abandoned it's members in pursuit of trying to look progressive. Instead they look like the fools that they have become.

I didn’t renew this year. Wasn’t aware of that regarding the resolutions; that really isn’t on. However, the whole resolution thing always seemed to be a bit odd to me as there doesn’t seem to be much campaigning. I shan’t be rejoining in my new location but that’s mostly due to them allowing males to join.

The WI in our village formally disbanded themselves last year. Then all of the women who had belonged to it immediately started up a new group called "The *** Village Womens Group".
They set their own rules now.

Gender ideology is destroying so much. The membership need to wrestle back control.

When were trans women first admitted to the WI? I thought it was the 70s. What’s changed?

This is what happens when a man called Petra has a meteoric rise to the WI board. He goes from stealing his wife’s knickers to WI top job in record speed and the culture is all the worse for it.

I left six years ago over this crap. It's sad to see it's getting worse. I won't be rejoining any time soon. Thinking I might give U3A a whirl. I know it's not single sex but they do trips, walks, special interest groups. It's just a shame as WI is often rurally based.

I’m a bit surprised at the direction the WI has taken in recent years as I was previously acquainted with someone near at the top and a more sound/sensible person you could not find. But perhaps the ship was already going in that direction?

What you describe doesn’t sound great, but it’s a charitable membership organisation in the grand scheme of things. Does it wield any external power as such?

I am more concerned about democracy within political parties and organisations like the National Trust, which controls huge swathes of land, employs thousands of people and has quite a bit of influence over how we perceive history.

For example, go to NT Corfe castle and all the signage portrays the Royalist side as noble defenders of home, property and civilised values and the Parliamentarians as besieging, thuggish enemies. Thousands of visitors will see that little bit of truth engineering each year and take it at face value. But there were two sides in the English Civil War, with right and terrible wrong on both sides.

It's yet another boundary being broken. Another parasitic man abusing the 'be kind' brigade. I do hope more women vote with their feet. I love that once group just left and set up their own version of WI with no autogynephiles admitted! If more people knew what autogynephia was, they might think more carefully about the intentions of men doing womanface. Sadly, many women, still think it's some poor vulnerable group of men who just want to be one of us. When it's not that at all.

I see the gender war as a massive cluster of battles spread over a period of time with no obvious end in sight. Each slightly different battle (with the same underlying goals) needs people to get involved, however they can. If some take on the WI that's great, it will give other women, and men, more confidence to do the same. The more everyone speaks out, the more chance of all of the battles being won, sooner rather than later.

Same here, and it's just happened in the next area. They're ultimately going to be left with purple haired staff and male "women". Fuckem

I was so hopeful this might be for me. I remembered my mother enjoying it, perhaps I was trying to impress her somehow. Tried a day time and an evening one. The first it was handbags on seats, " Oh I'm saving that for my sister/ friend"
The second it was packed and a wall of sound.
Its not easy finding other people. Let alone the gender stuff.

I think the WI is another victim of the charity-industrial complex, that becomes all about sustaining its own self, and less about delivering on the actual mission.

...and here goes the usual suspects policing women again.

Yes hear that all the time from the WI HQ . If it was the 70s which I doubt , it would be hearsay only . Look st the demographics of the WI . Anyone attending in the 70s would have to attended from a very young age which seems highly unlikely . I call foul on this bit of convenient misinformation.

My DM's group have also done this.

Mm - I had recently thought about it at 62- far too many institutions appointing too to tick the inclusive boxes for my liking rather than necessarily aptitude or skills -

like another said I think I will look at U3A as we have a big one here!

Absolutely. Fuckem

What is U3A...?

University of the Third Age - does a range of learning and social activities; I think it is targeted at people aged 55 plus.

<waves>

I pop in from time to time!

I have also seen the post on UWI on FB!

You are not wrong

Well it keeps its HQ in the Kings Road to be close to Parliament for lobbying purposes

And where before I would have considered our National Chair of Trustees therefore Chair of the WI, to be 'in charge' we have a paid CEO who appears to have her own agenda

To be fair, my WI is pretty big (we grew hugely after covid) but we're a good group of women that is well thought of by the members

But we're not a campaigning WI, I doubt many took much notice of the magazine article about Petra... and although there is a vote on whatever Resolutions are put forward, that's usually the end of it. Might be our average age but we go along quite happily as we are.

We all just enjoy the meetings and social events that are put on and I'm quite happy with that. I've made some great friends and that's all I can ask for.