Madge Watt - Gone But Not Forgotten

2023 marks the 75th Anniversary of the passing of Madge Watt. In her 80 years of life, she promoted the idea of women working together. Then she proceeded to demonstrate how such cooperation could lead to better conditions in the homes and countries through the efforts and influences of women.

Though we no longer can hear her voice raised to guide us, she left behind a host of like-thinking women who have continued on the path she pioneered, then bequeathed to us. I wonder what she would  think and say about how the Women's Institutes and all members of the Associated Country Women of the World have expanded her ideas. Then assisting women in under privileged countries to learn how to help themselves and their families to overcome the problems they are facing as well as planning forward to better conditions in the future.

With Mrs. Watt's designation as a Person of National Historic Significance and the placement of the Government of Canada plaque in Metchosin, attention was focused on her life time achievements as well as the follow up being carried on today worldwide. She had the dream, and the foresight to implement it, but she left it to us to carry on, and expand.

But to backtrack a little, I recently discovered an article which originally was published in “Home and Country”, the Alberta Women's Institute magazine and was prepared by Elizabeth Lefsrud an AWI member. In this article which was based on Mrs. Watt's experiences when forming the Women's Institutes in Great Britain, Mrs. Lefsrud wrote:

“Even as Madge was involved  in starting WI's her most important task was the training of organizers. Soon there were six schools training people to organize Institutes. It may seem odd to us, but it was the men who first encouraged Institutes and became deeply involved, that because of the great need to help in the war effort. However, after the war, when the WI's really blossomed, many men wanted the Institutes to include men as members. A resolution to that effect brought before a national convention was overwhelmingly defeated. The women knew that when men are involved, women always take a back seat.”

This was all news to me! Of course, here in British Columbia the Farmer's Institute was organized and then influenced the British Columbia Government that Women's Institutes would benefit both the women and the communities in which they lived.

So one might say that Madge encountered both sides of the question, with different results. In the long run, both Farmer's and Women's Institutes benefited our province, and indeed many provinces across Canada.

Just another small glimpse of what Madge Watt encountered in her work to involve women in matters in their communities and around the world!

Yours For Home and Country, Ruth Fenner, Provincial Historian, British Columbia Women's Institute