22-H10 The Women’s Institutes as a Surprising Global Force for Community Development – Dr. Ellerman, Evelyn

How did an Ontario, rural women’s group conquer the world? Move over, Miss Marple! Learn about the harbinger of change that has been and is — the Women’s Institutes (WI). Since its inception in 1897, the WI movement spread like wildfire across Canada, taking root in the UK during WWI, and the world after 1929. Today it is the largest women’s organization in the world. Its focus on women’s education and on community development has led the WI to build rural infrastructure and initiate social welfare programs. But, for all its vitality internationally, the WI is largely forgotten at home. How did this happen? To understand why, we will ground ourselves in the history of the Alberta Women’s Institutes and its early proponents, Emily Murphy and Nellie McClung, before looking further afield.

Biography

Dr. Evelyn Ellerman is a retired professor of Communication Studies. She has given conference papers on the Women’s Institutes and has built a website dedicated to the history of the Alberta WI. She is completing research for a book-length history of the organization.