WI

[motherrunner]

There is a WI near me and I’m thinking about joining. Is anyone a member of a WI and can be an insider insight to what you enjoy about meetings?

[RuthW]

@motherrunner

Just seen there’s an ‘unofficial’ WI group on Facebook so have joined that and hopefully that’ll give me some greater insight.

Probably not the best indication of all WIs as there are some very traditional ladies on there.

[motherrunner]

@RuthW Your group sounds like what I’d like!

[RuthW]

[quote motherrunner]@RuthW Your group sounds like what I’d like![/quote]
We are in Northampton if you are anywhere near but there are others all over the country.

[RuthW]

Also you can join in with as little or as much as you like. Some members only come to the monthly meeting and others come to everything. Most are somewhere in between. We offer an event at least once a week.

[LawnFever]

I’ve been a member of the WI for about 8 years, ours is city based and we have members from around 25-70, so a real mix of ages.

We have monthly meetings, plus a book club, craft club. We’re currently all online but when we could meet face to face we’d have meals/drinks out, theatre trips, whatever people fancied really.

We do some charity stuff too, we’re currently supporting the local women’s refuge, and we get involved with community projects when we can.

I love it, I’ve made some great friends and got involved with all sorts of things I wouldn’t have been able to otherwise.

All groups are different, give a couple a go (usually you can attend a couple of meetings as a guest before joining up).

[LawnFever]

Probably not the best indication of all WIs as there are some very traditional ladies on there.

I agree, that group can be a little questionable at times!!

[Spidey66]

@EndoplasmicReticulum

There was a "younger" WI set up near us a few years back too, lots of coverage in the local paper etc. I think they had a waiting list to join!

Was it the Shoreditch Sisters? Joe Strummer's daughter set it up, so it was always going to be pretty rock n roll!

[WhereYouLeftIt]

[quote motherrunner]@Thecatonthemat You mean if you identify as female you can join?????[/quote]
Yup.

www.thewi.org.uk/about-us/wi-key-messages/equality-diversity-inclusion-policy

"Transgender women are welcome to join the WI and to participate in any WI activities in the same way as any other woman. The WI provides women with educational opportunities and the platform to campaign on issues that matter to them and their communities whilst always celebrating what it means to be a woman. Therefore, welcoming transgender women to the WI builds on our ambitions and enriches our membership to ensure we are a place for all women to celebrate who they are and influence positive change in their communities."

[WhereYouLeftIt]

Which I personally find somewhat at odds with

www.thewi.org.uk/faqs

"Why are men not allowed to join the WI?
The Women's Institute is based on the idea of establishing a strong female community, providing women with educational opportunities and the chance to make a difference in their communities. Therefore, the WI is set up as an educational charity with a constitution which states that membership is only open to women. Under UK law, charitable organisations whose constitution stipulates single-sex membership are entitled to restrict access to the opposite sex. "

[TheABC]

I can't actually get het up about a transperson joining WI. It's one of those situations where it should not impact women's safety or dignity, if they do so.

Now, male-bodied rapist's in women's cells...that needs addresses.

[TheABC]

*addressing.

Off to check out WI, now.

[Zampa]

I've been a member of a city WI (not a hip cool one like Shoreditch Sisters but very diverse range of ages and ethnicities) and a suburban, traditional WI. The latter did always sing Jerusalem on opening the meeting and I was the youngest member by about 20 years.

Both groups were made up of incredibly welcoming, empowering women but had completely different focuses.

If you have a few chapters near you, I'd visit a few and see if any appeal to your interests.

[Pootles34]

I'm on the committee of ours - we're a rural Yorkshire group with ages around 30s-80s. We do a mix of things but running out of things to do on zoom!

[Thecatonthemat]

In any women’s group I have ever been in , the presence of a man has always been at best disruptive, at worst has destroyed the group. I can’t imagine that the WI will be very different. I don’t understand why the identifiers are more valued than those of us who say they won’t join because of this? Why not just open up to everyone , male or female ? whereyouleftit is right, their policies are in conflict.

[Quitelikeacatslife]

I've been a member for years, our group is wonderful, lots of fun and fantastic meetings that give you chance to try things you might never have. We are probably what you would call new wave as ages 20's to 70's but young agenda. It's awesome for networking and meeting other women , I've had so much fun and met some brilliant people. Also good to be part of community . Look and see if your local one has a website or Facebook page and maybe try a couple of local ones, find one to suit you, they vary greatly. If you do find a good one I'd say get really involved, sub groups, helping at events or joining committee as you really get to know people that way.
There are still old school ones who have an officers top table and boring speakers but loads of fun ones too.
The unofficial fb page is bonkers, not a true reflection really.

[Quitelikeacatslife]

Also the self identification is really a non issue , if genuinely living as a woman you are all adults , be kind. If not they wouldn't last 2 minutes lol

[Floisme]

May I ask what a 'young agenda' and a 'young outlook' mean please?

[Quitelikeacatslife]

I mean we do fun things, think stage combat, wine tasting, African drumming, talks on empowering issues not history of tea towels or crafts the brownies would do
Also less fuss and less traditional focus, don't sing Jerusalem etc

[Beamur]

I'm not a member, but I think my local group is quite popular and has a lot of arty, crafty types in it.

[Quitelikeacatslife]

I'd advise anyone to try it, try a couple of meetings to get a flavour. It's something I do that's just for me, not going somewhere where you end up talking about kids and home. Meeting people with different lifestyles to you. I really love it.

[Toddlerteaplease]

I've been a member for a couple of years. It's a massive group
And we only meet monthly (pre Covid) so I haven't got to know anyone. I find it a bit cliquey as they are mainly mums with school age children. I do t think it's an issue with the WI. I think I'm in the wrong group. So need to find a new one.

[SpringCrocus]

WI accepts men who self id as women. Which is one reason I left, several years ago.

[Floisme]

Thanks - I like fun as much as the next person but that sounds like a very dismissive attitude towards traditionally female crafts and skills so it's probably not for me.

[LawnFever]

@Toddlerteaplease

I've been a member for a couple of years. It's a massive group
And we only meet monthly (pre Covid) so I haven't got to know anyone. I find it a bit cliquey as they are mainly mums with school age children. I do t think it's an issue with the WI. I think I'm in the wrong group. So need to find a new one.

Yeah give another one a go if that’s the case, they’re all different - also, I found I got to know people a bit better at the sub groups we have like book club, it’s easier to get to know people in a smaller group, so maybe see if anyone one has sub groups as well as main meetings

[LawnFever]

@Floisme

Thanks - I like fun as much as the next person but that sounds like a very dismissive attitude towards traditionally female crafts and skills so it's probably not for me.

The thing with a WI is that the agenda and activities are led by the members and committee, if there’s someone who wants to arrange a more traditional craft based sub group there’s a space for that but it’s down to what people are willing to arrange - it’s completely non prescriptive in terms of the agenda.

Just because a group doesn’t focus on traditional crafts doesn’t mean it’s dismissive of them, it might just be that nobody has brought up that topic for a meeting, or it could’ve been done lots in the past so the group has moved on to other topics.

No two groups are the same