More than Jam and Jerusalem: LSBU professor examines Women’s Institute’s history of activism
More than Jam and Jerusalem: LSBU professor examines Women’s Institute’s history of activism
The traditional image of the Women’s Institute (WI) is of a genteel club focusing on jam-making, jumble sales and singing hymns like ‘Jerusalem’.
Now an LSBU professor is to shine a spotlight on the contemporary reality of the WI as a campaigning organisation when she delivers a special lecture on its history to mark the organisation’s 110th anniversary.
Professor Caitríona Beaumont will examine the significant story of this national organisation in a webinar address on the WI’s website on Tuesday September 16.
It will mark WI Day, an annual celebration of the establishment of the WI, which now has more than 180,000 members.
“Despite a very long history of activism, the WI can still be regarded with condescension and pigeonholed by its association with jam and Jerusalem,” Professor Beaumont said. “Too often the campaigns of the WI are missing from histories of feminism and the women’s movement, and from public consciousness.”
The first ever WI meeting in the United Kingdom took place on September 16 1915 at Llanfairpwll on Anglesey, Wales after the movement itself began in Canada in 1897.
Professor Beaumont’s talk, entitled ‘The Story of a Movement for Women’ will focus on dynamic stories of WI activism and how it has transformed the lives of women over the past 110 years.
This includes accounts of how the WI led the way on numerous campaigns to enhance the lives of women and girls. For instance, better housing, equal pay, cervical cancer screening, ending gender-based violence and greater protection against pollution in our rivers and seas.
She will also discuss her work leading the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) Women’s Grassroots Activism project that explores women's activism in England and Ireland from 1918 to the present. It aims to explore how past activism shapes and informs current efforts to achieve gender equality for women and girls.
“As a historian of female activism I have written about the contribution the WI has made to gender equality in the UK since its inception,” Professor Beaumont said. “Our Women’s Grassroots Activism Podcast Series also features current members of the WI reflecting on the rich history of activism of the organisation.”
You can reserve your space to watch the talk here