When you are known for your baking, knitting, cross-stitching, preserving, crocheting, piping, patchwork and icing – as are the 20,000-plus members of the Country Women’s Association – you are not always taken seriously. For almost a century, this collective of women has been the beating heart of country Australia, transforming localities into communities, uniting for causes and improving the lot of rural families. Yet, to the outsider, the invariable impression is of a bunch of old ladies serving up tea and scones at country shows.
It is little wonder then that the CWA leadership, battling falling membership, is keen to rebrand itself to the outside world. The only surprise, as I sit in the Sydney headquarters of the CWA of NSW, is how far they seem willing to go.
How,…
