TNA Podcast: 100 Years of the Women's Institute: the Acceptable Face of Feminism

The Women's Institution, a Canadian invention, has been a significant part of British life for a century.
In this TNA podcast from a presentation on 9 June 2016 Professor Maggie Andrews discusses some of the key campaigns and concerns of the Women’s Institute. From its origins in the First World War to the 1950s when, with half a million members, it was firmly established as the largest women’s organisation, focused on the concerns of rural women, especially housing, water, and sewerage, in Britain. It also had an important social side, and made jam.
Today the WI in Britain pursues several campaigns, including climate change and the situation of carers.
Maggie Andrews is a Professor of Cultural History at the University of Worcester; she has published widely on women, domesticity and the home front in 20th century Britain.
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documents/the-acceptable-face-of-feminism.mp3