the rural Women’s Institutes
met a particular need, in
allowing women from scattered
farms to come together on a
regular basis to discuss a
wide range of community
issues and define solutions
for the future. The region’s
first Women's Institute was
founded in 1911 and local

chapters proliferated during
the 1920s and 1930s. Women’s
Institutes remained the
predominant form of community
organization for women until
the 1960s. As of that period,
new women's groups began to
take their place, while
continuing to play a
fundamentally similar role.

In an increasingly urbanized
and socially diversified
society, women began to look
to a range of new
organizations, such as the
Lennoxville and Ascot Women’s
Centre and Grandmothers to
Grandmothers, as a means of
expressing their community
involvement.

   Women’s concerns about
health and “wellness”,
education, work, poverty,
identity, international
relations and “world peace”
are at the forefront of this
exhibition. Important
parallels can be drawn
between women’s concerns in
the past and women’s present-