Why don’t you join the WI?

[Wtafis]

The WI are asking non members why they haven’t joined.

I know people here don’t agreed with their gender diversity policy so thought it was a good opportunity to feed ib

sprw.io/stt-xwsByTfSPd3Jomcuza74KF

There’s lots of younger WIs near me, someone needs to start it though, maybe you could start one up?

Much as their gender stance grates on me, I’ve been a member for years and in reality it’s never caused any issues in our group. I would however reconsider my membership if something occurred within my group and men started attending.

There’s a decent WI near me. I’ve considered joining, but the gender inclusivity and be kind twaddle puts me off massively.

I’m afraid belief that’s TWAW is a complete deal breaker for me.

Because I'm not 80 and I can't crochet. Not at all bothered about the trans side of the debate. When I get older and may join, I would be fine with having a trans women there too.

I tried the WI recently. A new, younger group in my town. I found them snooty and unwelcoming, no one was particularly friendly.

I wasn't remotely interested in their chosen 'activity'.

I was more interested in the locality rather than the organisational stance but it didn't work for me.

To be fair, I can crochet. I’m not feeling compelled to join a group on that basis.

OTOH, my mother has learned to crochet and joined a million crochet and craft groups since retirement. As far as I’m aware, she’s actually joined the village church women’s guild (something she used to scoff at). She’s not at all religious. She joined for the crochet.

So crochet must be a big draw.

😂 That’s a terrible stereotype - I am under 60, hate craft, never made jam ever and not religious but love the WI.

Tea and cake and Prosecco are definitely a thing at ours though which I love !

We are a new WI and there are sub groups for different interests and range of different speakers and I have visited places I would never have done without them. I still hate crafting though..

New WI groups open all time, so I would recommend anyone interested trying one as a visitor and then moving to another group if not for you. I did try a group whose avg. age was prob over 75 which is fine but I wanted to go to a more modern meeting so tried a different meeting.
Our WI has ladies from 20’s to 80’s which I think is great !

I also think I have a soft spot for the WI as my Mother was a member for years.

The survey is really typical of WI - well intentioned but doesn't really quite get to the root of the issue. I was involved in a new/young WI and on the committee for a few years before we moved. I like my crafts and we had a blast to be honest with various activities and competitions (admires rosette collection).

As PP said the bureacracy and clumsiness of the national organisation can be quite hard to deal with. Also the interminable facebook discussions on controversial issues such as, not only transgender members but "does your WI use this new fangled email?" or "should members pay for biscuits at meetings" and "why is the WI Life magazine full of older-demographic adverts". As a whole the organisation does have an older demographic, probably 80% of groups are retired-age plus, then you have a whole range of younger groups including some pretty creative/aggressively woke groups depending on how you look at it.

Ours did a good thing by being an accessible group for women in the community to join and do things together, rather than a cliquey school gate or anonymous exercise class. Loneliness/depression is a real thing for a lot of women and a good WI will be accessible, interesting and friendly.

I feel they've been targeted by transgender men trying to validate their femininity, and made fools of. The national leadership of are completely ill equipped to explain why Women should mean women, they just think it's the latest cool thing like the goth WI and the WI in a prison. Which is a shame as it puts women off who would probably really benefit from being involved for the friendship.

That survey is really badly designed, esp the bit about rating from 1 to 9.

my local WI meets once a month, I did plan to try it but lockdown, now I mostly cba but I don't like the focus on "issues".

I agree badly designed and wordy. The trans bit is added at the end and I’m not what info they are trying to gather from that question. I would be interested in the WI but not so many issues.

I am a member but it's really hard to get to the monthly meeting after a day at work and I find there aren't enough weekend events. This will become more of an issue as we can't retire until much older now. It is a shane as I think it's a lovely organisation and I have I met some great women through it and had some good days out. I don't like the fact that they admit certain males though as it does change the dynamic and validates the idea that they are the same as women.

I would join if it was just for women

My mother joined a Welsh group called Merched y Wawr which had split of from WI after they had insisted on the use of english in Welsh branches.

I've completed the survey because it has crossed my mind before. I would like to meet more women friends and be part of an all women organisation. But I also said for me that is single sex not gender.

Completed. Thanks for drawing it to our attention.
I joined a few years back, to try it and it was completely full of the same doddery old women who were in it 40+ years ago when my mother joined. They were completely against any change and wouldn't do anything that the least able person there could do (bearing in mind some there were in their 90s). They even refused to communicate at all by email. There was bickering and arguments every time about the 'proper' way to hold a meeting.
I didn't last there long. I'm sure there are better ones around for others, but being rural this was the only one within a reasonable. They certainly need a shake up if the organisation is to survive.

Well I told them I'd never join because of how they celebrated a man as being a woman.

This is so relatable I had to double check I hadn’t written it 😁

I love my group, but the national organisation drives me up the wall

If I had my way we’d cede and be a women’s group that’s not affiliated

Ours meets during working hours. I won't be able to join till I'm 67.

Just done the survey, used to be a member, left when they started letting men who self ID as women into membership.

Meeting in the day is also an issue.

My branch is an evening one and we do all our events evenings and weekends.

but I can never make any national or county events which is frustrating when half my annual fee goes to those.

Plenty meet in the evening, ours does, virtually all our members work full time.

If people want different things out of a WI new groups can be set up, local federations are always happy to help.

Same! Love my group, but the federation and national level is so utterly out of touch.

I’ve been a member for almost 10 years now, since my early 30s and have never once been able to go to a federation event, as they’re typically at 2pm on a Tuesday about an hour away, so of no use whatsoever to our group!

I would think of the U3A first rather than the WI because my social life has tended to be all-woman and I'd potentially enjoy a mixed sex, less formal structure. I wonder if the U3A has taken some potential WI members away.

I’m definitely in their target age group but I just can’t face an evening of being shown how to make a Christmas table decoration or a talk about a not-particularly-interesting local historical event.

U3A is worried about declining membership too.

I had two goes at filling out the form but couldn’t see the bit about where to object to trans identifying men?

It's just so old fashioned. My 80 year old mum desperately wants more friends but she wouldn't join it because she thinks it's for old people ;)