Description

In a century that has seen the role of women in both domestic and public life change irrevocably, the role of the Women s Institute in effecting change has often gone unappreciated.

From the barracking of Tony Blair at their AGM in 2000, through the extraordinary story of the WI Calendar Girls, and after a hundred years of campaigning and solidarity, the WI is enjoying a resurgence in popularity among younger city-dwelling women, while remaining firmly rooted in its rural origins.

Women s Century celebrates the WI s centenary in 2015, calling attention to the indispensable role it has played in the development of women s rights. From its establishment in a 1915 Britain suffering the rigours of war in Europe, the WI has become the UK s most popular women s organisation, playing a crucial role in encouraging women s education and equal pay, prison reform and, more recently, AIDS awareness and fair trade.

Focusing on powerful images of the WI and its work, with a foreword by HRH The Duchess of Cornwall, and preface by Julie Summers, the book tells its story to a new generation of men and women, whose forebears 100 years ago could never have imagined the force their fledgling new organisation would become.