Ahead of International Women’s Day on March 8, the Petersfield Post spoke to the Petersfield Evening Women’s Institute (WI).
The branch was launched in July 2024, aiming to revolutionise the way women connect and thrive in Petersfield.
The group has now garnered more than 100 members and held numerous events, with the latest being a talk by local author Louise Morrish, about her novel Operation Moonlight.
“Louise really uncovered the hidden stories of women during the war,” said marketing and communications secretary, Cindy Herraman-Stowers.
“It was really fascinating, all our members loved it and Louise was thrilled to be there as well.”
Branch president, Chloe Pyatt, added: “When Louise was talking about the Special Operations Executive, they really were the pioneers of gender parity, it's a great link to International Women's Day.”
When discussing the traditional image of the WI, Chloe said the branch has been an enormous success in appealing to younger generations and have tried to be more streamline in what they do.
But beyond individual WIs, there is a whole network of groups that focus on a variety of topics and activities.
Cindy explained: “Once you've joined the Petersfield Evening WI, you get access to the WhatsApp community.
“There are lots of subgroups that have already been set up, we've got a wellbeing group, a social cafe that meets once a month, a Sunday walking club, an e-bike club, book clubs, a theatre group, and a film and cinema group.
“The latest is a walking netball group, so there's lots for people to get involved in and they can dip in and out of what they're interested in.
"You've also got the national overarching infrastructure, which includes the learning hub, made up of free educational courses that members can take part in.”
Chloe added: “The most important thing about the WI is it’s a charity. It was set up with charitable status for the education of women in their community, so it’s about empowering women. It is about inspiring women, engaging them and giving them the skills to progress their lives as well.”
This year’s International Women’s Day theme is ‘Accelerate Action’ and the official website states: “Accelerate Action is a worldwide call to acknowledge strategies, resources, and activity that positively impact women's advancement, and to support and elevate their implementation.”
Commenting on the theme, Chloe added: “Creating a new branch for a modern woman is exactly that. If we hadn't done it, it wouldn't have existed, and these women wouldn't have started connecting.
“Securing our future really lends itself to Accelerate Action and there’s a lot of events that happen on International Women's Day that members can get involved in on a national level.
“It reinforces people's awareness, starts conversations with friends and family and in communities, which is what has to happen.”
If you’re interested in joining the branch, they meet at 7.30pm on the third Tuesday of each month at the TPS Studios, Cranford Road, Petersfield. Contact [email protected] to find out more.