Scouting for girls

While the focus of this blog is not on Girl Guiding (UK) or the Girls Scouts (US), nontheless they do play an important role within scouting as a movement and here is a vintage picture of a pack of girl guides well before the heavily criticized uniform changes of the 1990's and early 2,000's.

Girl Scouts USA - Cadettes, Seniors, Juniors, Brownies - 1970 again before the push into cargo type shorts or long trousers that keeps a clear separate identity for the female side of the movement.

Although Girl Guiding was clearly seen from the outset as the outlet for girls who wished to be in scouting, being the responsibility of Agnes and then Olive Baden-Powell in 1918 and currently is structured into Rainbows/Rainbow Guides for 5 to 7 year olds, Brownies/Brownie Guides for 7 to 10 year olds, Guides for 10 to 14 year olds and Rangers for 14 to 26 year olds, there is a difference in  the extent to which The Scout Association and BSA have by allowing females to join have undermined the role and purpose of Girl Guiding/ Girl Scouts.

The Scout Association and BSA today feel they need to be seen to be inclusive including gender inclusive whereas The Guiding Association and Girl Scouts feel very strongly that when girls increasingly share spaces at school and in sports there is a need for an all girl space lead by adult females to help raise girls. They also feel it is an attempt to bolster Scouting Association/BSA  membership and participation.

My own view on this are written naturally from a male perspective which is while I would agree sharing resources such as camps and taking part in joint activities makes sense as part of the same movement, I feel something is being lost and not just for girls in this trend to eliminate gender specific spaces.

I feel boys have a need to spend time together learning about and from each other and by doing this through the Scouting programs form powerful bonds that aid their transition in  capable young men in tune with adventure but also able to take care of themselves.

Boys let their guard down more and are generally less likely act up when in their own company supervised by men who know what boyhood is about cos they actually had one. Just the presence of a couple of females alters that whole dynamic in any group. 

I also agree with the Guiding Association/Girl Scouts that this clearly is muscling on their territory which was understood by all.

There has and is criticism from time to time that their programs are too timid, lack adventure and maybe seem stuck in a homely feminine environment but the answer to such concerns is for them to consult with the young people involved  and make the programs more rugged while keeping the all girl ethos.

This said the one criticism I would make of modern guiding is a preoccupation with 'girl power' and trying too hard to be a trendy campaigning feminist organization which I don't honestly feel most girls really are that into and says more about the current leadership than traditional scouting for girls.