What’s In a Name?

Over the years that I have belonged to the Women's Institute, I have heard many times, why is it called "Institute"? Some have even suggested it implied an "Institution" - which, of course, is a facility  where people are housed and treated for health issues, or perhaps to try to remedy some inclination that is not readily acceptable to the community at large.

If you look in the Oxford dictionary you find this definition: "institute  1. organized body for promotion of educational, scientific or similar object.”

In Mrs. Hoodless' time, this was a pattern that new organizations which were developed to improved the living conditions of people followed. They were designed and conducted to help people help themselves, by teaching them better solutions to their issues, and by spreading the word on newer practices and methods. In short, the Women's Institute is a body which has been organized to help continue the education of women who are members.

I doubt there are many organizations that have been so aptly named for the task they have undertaken. Ask any member who has belonged, and worked in the Institute for ten or more years, and she will have a long list of what she has learned. For my part - since I joined the "Institute" I have learned public speaking; how to draft letters to Government; how to pursue an issue to a successful conclusion; how to organize and carry off Provincial, National and International Conventions; learned to quilt; and many other important skills! The friendships that develop between members is something to value, and treasure over the years - for if you join when you are young, you have a lifetime to collect friends from one of the most active and forward looking women's organizations ever established.

In short, there are a host of subjects that can be learned by being an active member of a Women's Institute  and who knows what you and your fellow members may bring about through resolutions, actions in your communities and the positive influences you may be to others in your areas.

In this month of February we commemorate and treasure the actions of Mrs. Adelaide Hoodless. She was a housewife and mother, in an era when there was a clearly defined role women should fill - homemaker and mother. She filled those roles very well, and still found the energy, vision and time to found not only the Women's Institutes, but also co-found the Canadian arm of the Victorian Order of Nurses, be involved with the Young Women's Christian Association and serve the Ontario Government by writing the first instructional materials for the Domestic Science Course she had initiated. She was in demand as a speaker, and travelled not only in Ontario for various speaking engagements, but also in the United States. She even travelled to London England where she presented the idea of the Women's Institutes to the British women. Although it did not happen then, when Mrs. Alfred Watt brought the idea forward about fifteen years later, the Women's Institutes there were quickly founded and have not looked back!

So Happy Birthday Addie - we still remember and revere you, and the work you started is on-going. May your example guide us in our future projects as we carry forward your vision of the Women's Institute!

Yours For Home and Country, Ruth Fenner, Provincial Historian, British Columbia Women's Institute