Girl Guiding Peer Education gender sessions - anyone know about them?

[GU24Mum]

Our local unit is running a "Breaking Free" session on gender stereotypes next week but has also sent a link to the GG policy on gender.

Before I ask for more detail about the materials, does anyone have any experience of these sessions? They look to be talking about gender stereotypes (along the lines of "girls can do science too") but I am a bit nervous about the GG session based on some of the GG policies (and safeguarding issues). I don't want to be a complete pain to the volunteers who run the unit if I don't need to but won't let DD go if it's going to be a differently-focused session.

Thanks.

Perhaps they are going to explain how girls can break free by becoming boys?

I think it depends on the peer educator running it. My dd did it online during Covid (so I hovered in the background). It was focused on pushing back at gender stereotypes and had a lot of good things in it. Nothing during the session concerned me but I did get a letter beforehand with links to the GG policy. I don't know if they've updated it since then but at the time I was happy with the content.

How did it go @GU24Mum ? My daughter's guide group are having a session this week on gender stereotypes. I've watched a video on the girl guiding website about it and it looks OK. More about breaking stereotypes which is fine.

One of the sections was about explaining what gender is but this isn't explored so I don't know what the person taking the session will say about this.

Does anyone have any further insight on this?

I've read the girl guides policy on protected characteristics which does include sex but then also says under this heading that transgirls are included which to me means that sex as a characteristic isn't protected at all. Not sure what to make of it all really.

She didn't end up going. I hope I didn't pull her out of a great session about female empowerment but I didn't want to take the risk.

And that's why we need clarity of the equality act. How can sex be protected if members the opposite sex are included like that? That definition doesn't even make sense. Sadly my employer also uses this incorrect definition for their impact assessments. I have pointed out that it leaves them open to legal challenge but no one seems to care (good old NHS).

And that, right there, is one of the problems. GI affects the access of so many women and girls to what should be female-only spaces and female-centred activities, because they cannot now safely assume that they ARE female-only and female-centred. This is one of the reasons why the ‘it’s only a tiny number’ argument is so insidious

From the current guiding volunteer I've met frequently in a different context, I'd avoid it like the plague. There's a lack of precision in even the legal requirements and definitions - I can only presume that the training they have these days is completely inaccurate, so they are led to believe the Law reads completely differently to what is actually said.

It's a far cry from the diligence paid in respect of training when I was a leader 15 years ago, where the entire point was that it was a safe, female led environment for girls and women to grow and make the world a better, safer place.

I would be very wary of getting gender sessions from Girlguiding. They do have an agenda to push. The Breaking the Binary UMA was put together with Stonewall. GG is a Stonewall Diversity Champion. They did a slew of LGBT+ social posts last year including one on asexuality which the Safe Schools Alliance picked up on, saying it was probably part of their strategy to earn Stonewall points. Aside from expelling at least two leaders who raised obvious concerns about the safeguarding issues around male self ID, Girlguiding have removed from their overnight permission form (REN) the requirement to flag the presence of males - no matter how they identify. So there’s no way for the person signing off to know if the leader is following the requirements for males: separate sleeping and showering facilities while if they are doing first aid then there must be a female chaperone. But of course if the male self ids as female then these requirements don’t apply. Girlguiding know what they are doing. I don’t understand how the trainers delivering Safe Space 3&4 cannot see any safeguarding issues with this.

DD runs these sessions for Brownies and it is all good stuff, but I suspect that does depend on who is running the session.
It's very much girls can do anything, challenging what they consider to be toys girls should play with (no suggestion that playing with soldiers means you identify as a boy, but absolutely the opposite). Helping them to aspire to any role, wear what clothes they like. There is no mention of anything trans related.

I'd also say that a lot of leaders skirt round the whole gender thing, privately don't believe and hope it doesn't rear its head. There is a transboy in one of the guide groups, but there is no focus on them and obviously that doesn't bring the same issues that a transgirl would do.

Thanks for the replies. I'm still not sure what to do. On the one hand I completely agree that stereotypes are bad and think that's a good lesson. On the other hand, a young guide leader is presenting the session ( as in late teens) and I don't know their views on the subject. I do know that the guidance for girls between 11 and 14 says no mention of trans so that's good.

I might email the leader although it's her daughter doing the training so she's bound to be biased. My daughter is quite sensible but then again she's only 12, don't need her being g brainwashed yet.

Honestly I'm hoping she gets bored with guides soon anyway! She only goes at the moment because her friends are there.