After 82 years of meetings, the Alberta Women’s Institutes may change the way they’re organized in an effort to attract younger women.
A resolution to simplify the four levels of bureaucracy to one was defeated, but a motion was passed to review the women’s institute’s structure.
“Our problems are very, very different from when it was first organized,” said Valerie Nixon of Grimshaw. The early WI meetings focused on pasteurization of milk, food preservation and sewing tips.
“What we should worry about now is family breakup. What we should work into meetings is something that helps these young women,” Nixon told the delegates at the AWI convention in Camrose, Alta.
Read Also
Canola oil transloading facility opens
DP World just opened its new canola oil transload facility at the Port of Vancouver. It can ship one million tonnes of the commodity per year.
“We should do something that interests these young women,” she said.
Not only is the WI searching for a way to attract new members, it is looking at ways to cut administration costs. The four levels are made up of the local branches in each small town, the constituency level made up of several small branches, five districts across the province made up of constituencies, and the provincial level.
A Coutts, Alta. woman told the convention they’ve got to eliminate the different levels that bog the organization down in bureaucracy.
“We’ve got to get rid of some of the paperwork,” she said.
But Brenda Willsie, of Bowden, said it is essential to keep all the levels as a way of increasing communications with different branches across the province.
“Our district works to give us a chance to meet with others with minimum travel,” Willsie said.
Another woman said minimizing the organizational structure will mean the death of WI within 15 years.
“If we do away with the local level no one will want to be with us,” she said.
AWI president Doris Northey, of Red Deer, said the motion gives them a chance to look at how to streamline the organization to save the most money and still keep the local branches active.
“We have to be prepared to do things differently. We have to make some changes.”
