Popular Culture Review Vol. 13, No. 1, January 2002 | Page 16

12 Popular Culture Review the WI system in 1927 and 1928. Almost seventy years later. Ivy proudly displayed her certificate of achievement and remembered the instruction as a highlight of her young life.“^ Whether the educational opportunities arose through formal courses or through information presented at regular monthly meetings, the opportunity to learn was attractive to women. A poem written by a WI member from the London, Ontario area described the monthly meeting as an important highlight in the life of “mother,” a character from the postwar era who made a monthly reassignment of the usual kitchen duties in order to attend her Institute meeting: Mother’s at the Institute-^ That time of the month has rolled around The kitchen’s empty, there’s no sound. And hubby knows without dispute She’s off to the Women’s Institute. A casserole will be the winner When Mom comes home to cook the dinner. Something fast must be the way When WI meets for the day. When this day comes, there is no doubt There’s no one home, the cook is out And hubby really doesn’t mind Somewhere a sandwich, he will find... One would be hard pressed to decide which was more highly valued by this participant, the new cooking technique, or the afternoon away from her usual routines. In deference to prescribed gender roles, the poet describes her husband’s reaction to her outing. She explained that not only did he also welcome the news of neighbourhood gossip she would bring on her return, but as the last line of the poem states, “he thinks she’s pretty cute, to belong to the Women’s Institute.” Her new found knowledge does not change that heterosexual dynamic of his fond (though patronising) declaration of her “cuteness” nor does it really challenge the predetermined ideas about appropriate gender roles. Clearly, cooking was her domain, since he would have to invoke special coping mechanisms in her absence just to feed himself An earlier poetic piece written in 1915 is also a comment on gender relations within the homes of Women’s Institute members. Entitled “A Husband’s View of the Women’s Institute,”-^ this poem finds the man in a similar situation, having to cope with his wife’s absence while she goes off to hear “a speaker of some repute” or to deliver a paper herself to her peers at the local branch. What