Country Women's Institutes were established in 1921 at Rissington, Hawke's Bay, by Miss A. E. Jerome Spencer, later honoured as the founder. The first federation, that of Hawke's Bay, was formed in 1925, followed by Auckland federation in 1927 and by southern Wellington federation a year later. The Country Women's Institutes aims to provide an organisation to enable women to take an effective part in rural life and its development, to provide for the fuller education of country women, and to arrange for instruction and training in all branches of agriculture, rural handicrafts, domestic science, hygiene, and social welfare. The movement is now organised in 51 federations within New Zealand, with 1,015 institutes, and has a membership of 36,354. Extension work has also been carried out at times in the Cook Islands.

by Leonard John Wild, C.B.E., M.A., B.SC.(HON.), D.SC., formerly Pro-Chancellor of the University of New Zealand, Otaki.