History

The Women’s Institute movement and organization grew from humble rural origins into one of the leading advocacy networks in the world. The first Women’s Institute was founded in 1897 in Saltfleet (now Stoney Creek), Ontario, where Erland and Janet Lee invited a group of women to hear Adelaide Hoodless speak on the importance of women engaging in formal domestic education and organizing a unified voice to advocate in the areas of education, family health and community service to improve the lives of their families, the families in their communities, and families across Canada.

​Adelaide’s loss of her own young son, John Harold at just 14 months old, gave rise to her mission to organize and educate women and mothers around the world about food safety ensuring every woman was trained in homecare and domestic science.  She routinely travelled across North America to deliver her message of the importance of domestic education to the success of a family, and the nation. Eventually, she became an internationally recognized speaker and advocate for family education.

WI’s work included agricultural improvement, expanding basic education curricula, and lobbying for women and children’s rights. Many women were inspired to start, or join, their local Women’s Institutes to improve their lives and the lives of their friends and neighbours.

​Throughout World War I, Women’s Institutes served as diligent supporters as they provided the much-needed support for soldiers at home and abroad. Towards the end of 1918, with the war over and peace settling in across Europe, the idea of a Federation of Women’s Institutes came back into conversation.

In 1918, Miss Mary MacIsaac, the Superintendent of the Alberta Women’s Institutes, recognized the potential in organizing rural Canadian women into one organization so that they might have a united voice on important issues at a national level.

In February 1919, representatives from the provincial Institutes met in Winnipeg, Manitoba to form the Federated Women’s Institutes of Canada. Our first President was Judge Emily Murphy of Edmonton, Alberta, a woman of remarkable ability and energy.

The Federated Women’s Institutes flourished alongside the growing economy and industrialization during the 1920s and 1930s. With more women entering colleges, taking up long term positions as secretaries, teachers and in shops.

Many women started to move from the rural towns of their childhood to booming cities across Canada to raise their families. FWIC started to focus on a more diverse range of issues affecting women of the early twentieth century.  Early resolutions, such as an increase to the age of female consent, parental control and divorce and abandonment legislation, demonstrate the passion of FWIC for securing women’s rights in the changing social climate.

By the end of the 1920s, FWIC had advocated for women’s employment rights, rights to education and health care for all Canadians, and resolutions around immigration and community development.  The 1930s brought much of the same until Germany declared war on Britain and its allies in 1939.  Just like the Great War, all Women’s Institutes, including those in Canada, focused their efforts on supporting troops, fellow Commonwealth communities and the Allied Forces in Europe.  FWIC and provincial branches organized Jam for Britain drives, sent knitwear and clothing to Europe, and raised crucial funding for the Red Cross, among other projects.

While working tirelessly on behalf of Canadian families, FWIC established a national office in Ottawa in 1958 and in 1959 acquired the childhood home of Adelaide Hoodless, the women behind the WI Movement.  The Hunter Family homestead was opened in1960 as a museum dedicated to Adelaide and her life’s story. In 1995, it was designated a National Historic Site and is still operated as a museum today.  The Homestead is also home to the head office of FWIC.