ROSSER, Man. — Combining fun with travel and education is one way the Manitoba Women’s Institute could revive its declining membership.
Gisela Nolting said that was the formula for success in her native Germany, where she first became involved in the rural women’s group.
She said the agriculture department plays a significant organizational role in Germany’s WI movement, which also features regular presentations by speakers, little or no fundraising and opportunities for multi-day trips.
In Canada, she added, women joined in past decades because of their mothers or relatives.
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“Women have way more choices now,” said Nolting, a member of the WI in Grosse Isle, Man., and MWI board member who operates a 3,300 acre farm and forage seed processing plant with her husband, Heinz, and son, Robert, near Rosser, Man.
One of those choices is the Red Hat Society, a group of senior women who gather for fun and socialization.
“Their numbers are increasing. They do it just for fun,” said Nolting.
She said WI, which is dominated by older women, needed to address declining membership several decades ago when the corresponding decline in the rural population was beginning.
MWI, led by president Joan Clement, has been discussing ways to recruit new members, examining programming and engaging focus groups of non-members, she said.
Nolting said a website disseminates information about the group, but other forms of marketing would help, including assistance from Manitoba Agriculture.
She said the group remains relevant, offering presentations at regular meetings, supporting charities, lobbying at MWI conventions and pitching in to help Third World causes with the Associated Country Women of the World.
She will join Clement as one of 600 delegates at the ACWW triennial conference in India in September.
Woodmore WI member Justina Hop, a former MWI president, said her group offers its members fun, education and community-minded projects.
“There is a social connection and a voice to take concerns to a higher level,” she said of the 31-member group.
Hop said the chapter invites non-members to its annual Christmas party and has a draw each year for a free membership, with prospective candidates’ names thrown into a hat.
Many remain with WI after the membership has expired, she said.
Hop said isolation and remoteness continue to challenge many rural women. Computers help people communicate but not necessarily connect in the same way a “sisterhood” like MWI can, she added.
Fisher Branch WI has 40 members, 40 percent of whom are younger than 50.
Member Bernice Enstrom said fun is combined with community service.
“If I can’t help, I do not want to belong,” she said, citing the three fundraising events the chapter does each year.
The WI has a 30-year-old tradition of staging skits with other community groups. The event raises about $1,000, half of which goes to the school and half to the firefighters.
The women bring husbands to WI Christmas dinners and children to summertime picnics, engage local people as presenters and bring items to auction off at meetings.
She said the branch encourages younger members to take over the presidency, which is currently happening, and recognizes that women with jobs and children cannot attend all meetings and activities.
The group steers clear of taking sides politically to maintain harmony in the community, but Enstrom conceded WI has in the past been part of the drive to make improvements such as reflectors on train box cars, lines on highways and improved food safety in the home.
Part of the chapter’s success may come from the community’s remote location in the Interlake and its long standing in the community.
“We’re 65 years old, we’re a small town, everybody knows about us,” she said.
