Girl Guiding how it started
In the early years of the 20th century, Robert Baden-Powell, a famous army
general, developed a scheme for training boys. He tried out his ideas at a
camp on Brownsea Island in 1907 and the following year published them in a
book, Scouting for Boys.
The book was an instant success and boys throughout the country enthusiastically
took up 'scouting'. As a result Baden-Powell soon found himself organising
the Boy Scout Movement.
At the Scouts' first rally, at the Crystal Palace in 1909, Baden-Powell (B-P)
was faced with a small group of girls, representing hundreds of others, who
insisted they wanted to be Scouts too.
In an age when skirts were ankle length and young ladies never ran, the idea
of girls being involved in camping, hiking and similar activities received
a mixed response. Angry critics denounced 'girl scouting' as a 'mischievous
new development', a 'foolish and pernicious movement', an 'idiotic sport'.
However, the girls won. In 1910, Baden-Powell formed the Girl Guides and asked
his sister Agnes to look after the new organisation. A few years later his
wife Olave became involved and, in 1918, was appointed Chief Guide.
Such was the enthusiasm for Guiding that it soon spread worldwide and since
those early days countless millions have made the Guide Promise. Today there
are ten million girls and women in Guiding worldwide.
The pioneers who turned up at the 1909 Crystal Palace rally called themselves
Girl Scouts, but when he founded the girls' movement, B-P decided the name
should change.
This was partly because he thought it would antagonise the boys for whom Scouting
had been developed and also alienate parents, who would not welcome such a
tomboyish image for their daughters, but mostly because he wanted to create
a separate identity for the girls so that they could work for self-development
independently, not in imitation of their brothers.
He had to think of a name, and soon he remembered that he had been particularly
impressed with some 'Guides' in India. These men had operated on the North
West Frontier and their main task was to go on very dangerous expeditions.
Even when they were off duty the Guides were still training their minds and
bodies. With this in mind, B-P decided that 'Girl Guides' would be good name
for these pioneering young women.
A Scheme for Girl Guides was published in the 'Scout Headquarters Gazette'
and together with his sister Agnes, B-P wrote the first Guide Handbook called
'How Girls Can Help to Build Up the Empire'.
In general, girls mature more quickly than boys, but, on the other hand, their self-confidence - crucial for leading life to the full - grows more slowly. Similarly, girls tend to have less self-esteem than boys and are more likely to under-value themselves.
A mixed group, where boys are dominant because they appear to be more self-assured, only serves to highlight the differences. A single-sex group, however, gives girls and young women the opportunity to:
- decide what to do
- work together in teams, co-operate and negotiate on an equal basis
- assert themselves
- see other women in positions of responsibility, taking the lead
- make decisions
- develop a sense of identity and self-worth.