British Women's Institute

The Women's Institute (WI), a community-based organisation for women, was founded in Stoney Creek, Ontario, Canada, by Adelaide Hoodless in 1897. It then expanded to Britain, and later to other countries. Many WIs belong to the Associated Country Women of the World organization.

The British WI movement was formed in 1915 in Llanfairpwllgwyngyll (Llanfair PG), Anglesey Wales. It had two clear aims: to revitalise rural communities and to encourage women to become more involved in producing food during the First World War. Since then the organisation's aims have broadened and it is now the largest women's voluntary organisation in the UK. The organisation celebrated its 95th anniversary in 2010 and currently has approximately 208,000 members in 7,000 WIs.

Amongst WI aims and activities are providing women with educational opportunities and the chance to build new skills, enabling them to take part in a wide variety of activities, campaigning on issues that matter to them and their communities.

Women's Institutes in England, Wales, Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man are affiliated with the National Federation of Women's Institutes. In Scotland and Northern Ireland there are similar organisations tied to the WI through the Associated Country Women of the World: the Scottish Women's Rural Institutes and the Women's Institutes of Northern Ireland.

The national headquarters of the WI in England, Wales, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man, the National Federation of Women's Institutes (NFWI), is in London. There is also an office in Cardiff, NFWI-Wales, and a residential college in Oxfordshire, Denman College. The NFWI produces a membership magazine, WI Life. WI Enterprises is the trading arm of the organisation and exists to raise funds and provide benefits for members. In 2010, there are approximately 205,000 members of 6,500 Women's Institutes in England, Wales and the islands, linked through the Associated Country Women of the World to other WIs worldwide. (In almost a century, Colonel Richard Stapleton-Cotton and his dog Tinker are the only two males ever to be allowed in as fully paid-up WI members. )

Every individual WI meets at least once a month and there is usually a speaker, demonstration or activity at every meeting for members to learn and develop a range of different skills.

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