A week after marking Women’s Institute Day this Feb. 19, the
Saskatchewan WI might close down.
The group’s perilous future is blamed on an unsuccessful corporate
fundraising campaign this fall and a membership that has fallen to 200.
SWI’s board of directors plans to decide the future of the 91-year-old
rural women’s group at a Feb. 25 meeting.
President Doreen Holden said the board sent 45 letters this fall to
businesses and followed up with phone calls, but only one small
Read Also
Restaurant blends zero waste, ancient farming
A Mexico City restaurant has become a draw for its zero-waste kitchen, which means that every scrap of food and leftovers is reused for other purposes.
donation came back.
” ‘Times are hard,’ the businesses said. No one wants to listen very
much …. So many of the companies are out East.”
Holden said she wasn’t sure what the next step would be.
“I don’t know. I’m getting a little worried.”
While some of the branches raised money to support the provincial head
office, Holden said it wasn’t enough. As well, two branches disbanded
at the end of the year.
She said local clubs are often sustained by one strong woman. When she
dies, the club drifts away.
The SWI had 9,000 members at its height in the 1940s. Then called
Homemakers Clubs, they educated women about cooking, sewing, parenthood
and social issues.
Often the WI volunteers would assist the local hospital, library and
school, and act as a service club raising money for local needs and
activities.
But fewer women joined the clubs as the rural population shrunk and
financial need forced more to work off the farm.
The WI funding and membership issues are not unique to Saskatchewan,
but the crunch has come sooner. Holden said it has been suggested that
each Canadian member add $1 per year to their membership fees to help
fund the national WI, which has 23,000 members.
A similar provincially focused effort would only raise $200 in
Saskatchewan, which would not help, she said.
While some provincial governments provide their WIs with an operating
grant, Saskatchewan does not. This past month British Columbia’s
government cut the $25,000 it used to send each year to the BCWI.
However, Alberta and Manitoba still give grants to their provincial WIs.
The SWI shares free office space and mailing privileges at the
University of Saskatchewan. The $30 membership fees pay for one
part-time staff person, the newsletter and board meetings.
The board has not cut back staff hours yet, but Holden is pessimistic.
“You’ve got to be practical. At this point I haven’t got a lot of
optimism.”
The 42 women who founded the institute in Regina in January 1911 had a
vision to improve the quality of life for rural women and their
families.
Through lobbying and government action, they succeeded in many of their
campaigns to the point that few of the original problems remain. And
with the passing of the problems may come the demise of the
organization set up as the solution.
