“Although the WI is non-party political, we are very proud that the second woman to take her seat in the House of Commons (the first British born woman) Margaret Wintringham was a very active WI member, known by other WI members as ‘our Institute MP’. Nancy Astor also later became a member of the WI.

In October 2018, we celebrated 100 years of WI campaigns, and many of the earliest WI campaigns were about women taking their place in society, encouraging women to stand for election to local councils and supporting the appointment of women to public posts, such as in juries and the police force. This led to a lot of WI members taking on public roles, e.g the first female mayor of Higham Ferrers in Northamptonshire was a WI member, and two members of Somerset federation committee were elected onto their county council.

The WI has always encouraged and supported women in public appointments and we are proud to support ‘209 Women’ in celebrating the influential and inspiring women in Parliament today.”

www.thewi.org.uk