Girl Guides are now GIRL ONLY!

[Iamwhoiamwhoareyou]

Following April's supreme court ruling, the Girl Guides have FINALLY made a statement and will remain GIRLS ONLY - Finally closing the door on admitting trans members or allowing BOYS to invade female only spaces/camp (which, would be done without informing parents that their daughter would be sharing a room with a biological male!) - I have a previous post in feminism chat for anyone wanting to read the previous thread on this

EMAIL RECEIVED HOT OFF THE PRESS 5 MIN AGO -

As the parent of a young member in Girlguiding, following April’s Supreme Court decision relating to sex and gender, we wanted to give you an update. Many organisations across the country have been facing complex decisions about what it means for girls and women and for the wider communities affected, including us.

Girlguiding’s governing charity documents set out that the membership and people who benefit from our organisation are girls and women. In April, the Supreme Court ruled that girls and women are defined in the Equality Act 2010 by their biological sex at birth.
Following detailed considerations, expert legal advice and input from senior members, young members and our Council, Girlguiding’s Board of Trustees has made the difficult decision that Girlguiding must change Girlguiding must change, following the Supreme Court’s ruling.

From today, 2 December, it is with a heavy heart that we are announcing trans girls and young women will no longer be able to join Girlguiding. This is a decision we would have preferred not to make, and we know that this may be upsetting for members of our community.

There will be no immediate changes for current young members but more information will be shared next week.

Most adult roles, including unit helpers, district helpers and administrative support, are already open to all, so we are confident that no volunteers will have to leave the organisation.

Girlguiding believes strongly in our value of inclusion, and we will continue to support young people and adults in marginalised groups. Over the next few months, we'll explore opportunities to champion this value and actively support young people who need us.

You can find our full statement and updated policy on our website.

We are proud to be the UK’s largest youth organisation dedicated to girls and is focused on creating an equal world for girls and young women. For over 100 years, we have been a welcoming space for all girls to have new experiences, support their communities, build friendships and grow their confidence.

While Girlguiding may feel a little different going forward, these core aims and principles will always be the same. We remain committed to treating everyone with dignity and respect, particularly those from marginalised groups that have felt the biggest impact of this decision.

If you have any immediate questions, we have our special support team in place, to give volunteers, parents and carers the best support we can. We are asking Girlguiding HQ, trading and country/region staff to refer any volunteer or parent who has questions about this announcement. Details below.

Contact [email protected] or 020 7532 3970
All calls/emails will be confidential, and the service will be open 24hrs, 7 days a week.
Find out more, including how this team will handle personal data.

Denise Wilson (Chair of Trustees), Felicity Oswald (CEO) and Tracy Foster (Chief Guide)

I am guessing i was ‘dissed’ and missed it lol….

@JayJayEl That poster assumed that you could tell. That was the point. If you're saying that you can't, because you work with a particularly young client group, then the answer is simple: check out the birth certificate.

It shouldn't be a problem - we already do that in secondary schools if children enrol from another area or sector.

Part of my remit prior to retiring from my permanent post meant that I was involved in looking at children's paperwork. It's fairly routine and is part of safeguarding.

I really do think that you are splitting hairs here.

Yes, that is what statutory interpretation is all about. It has long been accepted that the task of the courts is, as Sir James Munby (then President of the Family Division) said in the widely reported divorce case Owens v Owens [2017] EWCA Civ 182, “jus dicere non jus dare – to state the law, not to make the law.”

But, in coming to a decision on what the words and phrases in the statute meant they did effectively decide a meaning of men and women for the purposes of the Act.

In fact, they were quite specific about it. Take, for example, para 231 of the judgment. This concerned admitting members of the opposite sex to single-sex assocations or charities (eg the Girl Guides or the WI etc). The Supreme Court said:

[231] "...To require such associations or charities to reconceive of their objects as targeting a group that does not correspond with their original aims, and to allow trans people with a GRC (of the opposite biological sex) to join would significantly undermine the right to associate on the basis of biological sex"

The Supreme Court very much did decide, on a practical basis, how men and women should be defined.

They are male. Boys should not be in girls spaces. No matter how that boy 'identifies'. This is a step forward to preserving girls rights to female only spaces.

They could join the Scouts.

Guides seem so very sad about it, I wonder why they don’t rebrand like Scouts as mixed sex? I know why… because no one would join as girls specifically want a female only activity.
They want to ruin the thing that keeps them afloat.

Scouts accept girls now, so I really think guides should accept boys.
Single-sex clubs are regressive imo.
And it means the whole gender debate can be side-stepped, and children aren't forced to choose hobbies and friendship groups based on sex.

I missed out the word viral word "young" when I said, "guess the sex of very [young] children". So deserve the pile on! 😂

Boys won’t be allowed in a space only for girls. Plenty of other resources for boys to go to and get support.

Not sure why you regard girls having a space to theirselves a step backwards but here we are.

Lol, you’re right - it was you she was dissing. Sorry @WearyAuldWumman I mis-remembered who the target of the derogatory ‘pensioner’ jibe was [I am clearly getting on a bit, or maybe it’s the G&T I had to recover from a 90 minute 8mil round trip on the school run tonight].

So young enough not to rock up to Guides which is what this thread is about?

yes, you do seem confused if you think BOYS should be allowed into the GIRL guides

BTW, I've heard of cases where someone has a 'professional FB account and a 'personal' account, and somehow FB knows there is a link between them and offers the other account as a possible friend.

"Even if an account is "private," it can still be suggested if it shares a connection like a phone number or email address with you, or if its profile information suggests a link. You can control how your own profile is suggested in your privacy settings."

I disagree.

When I was in the Brownies, Christmas and Hallowe'en parties were often held with the Boy Scouts who used the same hall as us (but on another day of the week).

It changed the entire dynamic. (I recall that we thought that the Scout Leaders - all male - were a bit idiotic, never mind the boy scouts.)

Why is it a step backwards?

Pass a G&T through the internet will you? I quite fancy one now.

Lots and lots of girls want to go to an activity that is only girls. This is a totally valid desire not to have to share a space with boys.
DD would never have gone to brownies/guides if they had been boys involved

Could you call yourself out then please.

I'm not trans so I can only imagine how it must feel, but I expect that as a trans girl or woman you'd feel that you'd really missed out on your 'girlhood' as such, and would really love to be part of a supportive, nurturing community of girls and women. Not sure that something mixed sex like Scouts would fit that bill.

Ex Guider now, but I (and many others in our District) had our husbands as Unit Helpers. I wouldn’t have been able to run my Rainbow, Brownie & Guide Units without such help (with Dads who were also Scouters) as there were so few Mums & women willing to volunteer!

If you want to see Girlguiding as a female only organisation, then please go online and sign up to volunteer!

😂

I completely agree. As I said above, I think something was maybe lost in translation, and appears I misunderstood the "you will definitely know" comment.

Any flavour preference? Raspberry, blackcurrant or blood orange? Got the lot!

There are experiences unique to having a female body that requires special care and attention and it is important that young females have a private space in which to do that.

You cannot identify AS a sex. You can identify WITH what you subjectively percieve as an experience of that sex but that is not based in objective realisty of having a female body i.e. being female is not a feeling. It is the reality of living in a world with 50% less strength than males. That fact requires certain accomodations and single sex spaces is one of those accomodations.

Um, centuries have taught us as the oppressed and vulnerable sex that we have a reason to fear men. As a RAPE SURVIVOR, I can tell you women have every right to be scared of men. In fact, we aren't fearful enough.

I can't recall the precise nomenclature - it's changed a bit since my day - but the Girl Guides/Guiding can refer to the overarching organisation with Brownies*. Rainbows, etc being the junior version of the Guides.

It changed to Brownie Guides in my day. No idea whether it's still the same.