Sorry, I can't seem to find the girlguiding thread. As they are a voluntary organisation, I'm hesitant to reply using up more of their time but how can they talk about challenging gender stereotypes when they say transgendered children (i.e. those born boys who identify as girls because they like playing with dolls etc) will be allowed. And how am I meant to know if my daughter's uncomfortable re: accommodiation as their policy is for noone to know until she's away from me at camp!
Thank you for contacting us following the media interest in the past few days about Girlguiding’s policy on equality and diversity. We recently published a statement on the recent coverage which you can view on our website here.
To clarify, Girlguiding has always been a single gender organisation and is committed to ensuring that girls and young women are given a space to challenge gender stereotypes. The guidelines that have recently been mentioned are not new, but have been on our site since 2015 and were recently updated in January 2017.
Our guidelines comply with the requirements of the Equality Act 2010 which makes clear that organisations providing single-sex services such as Girlguiding should treat people according to their acquired gender. As such, and in line with our values of inclusion, we welcome any young person who self-identifies as a girl or young woman. We are for all girls, from all walks of life and we will continue to open our doors to anyone based on that principle.
There may be occasions when girls and young women share accommodation. If any young person doesn’t feel comfortable doing that, for whatever reason, I would encourage you to speak to your daughter’s leader about alternative accommodation and facilities. More private areas for changing can also be made available to any young member who requests it. In terms of safeguarding our young members, all of our adult volunteers, of any gender, are DBS checked and our volunteers attend safeguarding training.
I hope that this answers you query and thank you again for contacting us.
Best wishes,
Anna
Anna Jönsson
Information, Enquiries & Complaints Manager