The WI were at Brighton Pride today with a big sign saying "the WI is for all women"....

[itsjustlikeyousaiditwouldbe]

....girl guiding also had a stall.

Not seen either of them there before.

Not sure what to make of that.

Looks like some women in the WI are still fighting for women ie biological females only WI.

Not sure what support they are getting

https://wdwi.co.uk/

Women’s Institute Declaration

1. Women and girls are subject to discrimination on the basis of their sex. Sex is a protected characteristic under the Equality Act 2010.
2. Women have the right to organise themselves as a sex across cultural, leisure, educational, sporting and political activities.
3. Women have the right to maintain their sex-based protections as set out in the Equality Act 2010, and refuse men access to single sex spaces, including, but not limited to: hospital wards, refuges, changing rooms, hostels, counselling services and medical care.
4. We condemn all attempts to undermine or limit the rights of women to self-organise, and discuss policies which affect them. Women should be able to do this free from harassment, abuse and intimidation. We call on the National Federation of Women’s Institutes to actively support this essential freedom.

You are able to sign our Declaration, although the petition is currently our main focus.

It is very sad that both organisation have succumbed to the ideology. Having been involved heavily in the guiding movement I am pleased that I am not longer involved as I feel so strongly that this should not have happened. Had been considering joining WI but no longer feel that an organisation with such an approach is for me.

Fantastic how progressive

@davinapple are you putting this on all the threads? How tedious for you. Repeatedly stating the bloody obvious. At least you're not being rude 🙂

God, I just want all this to stop. DD starts Guides soon. GG is great for girls because it's ONLY for girls ffs 😡 Scouting has mixed sex...but they aren't interested in that are they 🙄

Sorry mention of the scouts reminded me of this recent article:

Announcing the jobs on LinkedIn, Joanna Gregson, the Scouts' Head of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, wrote: 'I'm SO EXCITED to say that we're recruiting no less than EIGHT new Equity, Diversity and Inclusion roles to support our race equity work and our ambitious new EDI programme.

'This represents a massive investment by The Scouts, demonstrating its commitment to long-term, meaningful change - and I'm so proud to be a part of it.'

A parent contacted MailOnline saying: 'I'm all for inclusion and treating people fairly, but do they really need so many equity, diversity and inclusion roles at Scouts HQ?

'Note that these are new roles, so I figure they're on top of the ones they have already. Plus they seem to be VERY excited about this.

'It all seems very woke to me. Is this how your average parent wants their membership subscriptions being spent?'

Ms Gregson began working for the Scouts in November 2021 after previously being Head of Enforcement at the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12373939/Scout-leaders-come-fire-woke-recruitment-drive-eight-diversity-inclusion-roles-furious-parents-demand-staff-actually-know-wilderness-survival-skills-abseiling-canoeing.html

Sorry for DM link, but just in case this implies the DM "anti woke" bias as a "news" paper they have also published quite a long report on how Brighton Pride went ahead despire rail strikes and heavy rain.

(Just a thought: Should we now start monitoring all the former employees of the EHRC who seem to have moved on to spread their verson of equality at other organisations.)

EDI is about so much more than gender and sex!

of course the scouts and guides should be more inclusive of people who are disabled, neurodiverse, of a different religion/ethnicity/class etc. sometimes that takes knowledge and planning, and employing someone to oversee that is a useful spend (in my opinion)

@ResisterRex
TBH can’t remember when the official push started - there had been Members wanting to attend in uniform for a bit & a decision needed making; & I think there were some small local efforts before the big National jump-in magazine-feature stuff.

I can’t even remember (things get a bit fuzzy when a organisation decides to cause you massive trauma - could really have done without losing half my hair due to the [di]stress, too) whether the Scouts did it first, Girlguiding did, or it was both in the same year. I remember it was 2015 a Scouter complained about official attendance by the organisations at London Pride, chuntering on about The Gays recruiting Scouts & Guides (bearing in mind attendees are almost exclusively adult volunteers). He looked a bit flummoxed when I pointed out that i. sexuality really doesn’t work like that & ii. it was very much the other way round, recruitment-wise 🤨🙄

He was also a Girlguiding volunteer; reported his remarks at local level, SFA done, naturally. Wouldn’t want to tackle racism, homophobia, ableism, sectarianism or safeguarding risks like a Leader repeatedly running meetings alone when you can save all that energy for someone committing the serious crime of… being disabled. And obviously if mendacious liars are telling lies about the disabled volunteer, the disabled volunteer must in some way deserve this & be A Problem. Not the institutional ableism they’ve just issued a non-apology for, complete with “but now we’re going to do better so it’s all ok”.

Guiding is amazing. The organisation Girlguiding, as it is now, has managed to betray every last principle of Guiding - utterly trashed it. The absurdity of claiming to be a “safe girl-only space” & keeping harping on the fact it’s a girl-only girl-led organisation & how much Membership value that - & it benefits them! - while forcing through becoming mixed sex with no consultation is staggering. I don’t know if they’ll ever row back on it, either. At this point we could do with WAGGGS granting permission for a single-sex Guide Association in the UK (can’t remember if Girlguiding have to agree to it too) - could have a decent Programme & a working IT system & everything 😬 If JK Rowling’s ever short of projects to fund maybe she’d fancy it - she was a Brownie, but she’s not exactly of a mind with Girlguiding’s current direction, after all 🤷‍♀️

EDI is about so much more than gender and sex!

If you read the article the roles aren't just about sex and gender.

But it is also about it is proporationate given the size of the work force.

The Scouts employ around 300 people and roles currently being advertised range from annual salaries of between £21,674 and £62,000.

I dont know because the article doesn't cover this, whether the Scouts like so many organisations have been having to implement cut backs, ie reducing the actual events etc., for the scouts themselves.

Funny how "All women" means "All men".

There is no coincidence that the and activists have pushed to penetrate the most famous female only organisations first and so visibly. It’s the same logic that made them push on prisons first - if you can convince people to allow men into these very strongly delineated female only spaces, then everything else will fall as well.

I am just relieved that for the most part girls’ schools have resisted this so far, though there has clearly been a concerted attempt to break them too.

It’s so sad that the most significant spaces for women have been destroyed, and it’s a feature not a bug.

*trans activists

See also lesbian bars.

Thank you for the history and insight @NitroNine. Pretty grim stuff.

Guiding have had pride merchandise for a number of years too. It's a shame that HQ are doing their best to kill off the organisation and it sounds like the WI are doing the same.

My feminism is for all women but I mean that in a completely different way to WI and Girlguiding. I include the women who think they are not and those organisations include the men who think they are.

My feminism is for all women but I mean that in a completely different way to WI and Girlguiding. I include the women who think they are not and those organisations include the men who think they are
Hear hear 👏

What am I talking about? I’m saying no one can ‘feel’ like a man or a woman- it’s just a fact of life.

your post was very unclear, and I'm still none the wiser I'm afraid. there is no law that says you must write on mumsnet in a way that means others can follow your arguments though, so I'm sorry I was rude

“we have consistently championed the education and rights of women. “

From the WI ‘Why join the WI ‘ page

“Today, we are the largest women’s organisation in the UK and we pride ourselves on being a trusted place for all women of all generations, to share experiences and learn from each other. “

From the ‘About Us’ page (the highlight was in the original text)

From FAQ:

Can men join the WI?

No. The Women's Institute is based on the idea of bringing women together, providing them with educational opportunities and the chance to make a difference in their communities. Therefore, the WI is set up as an educational charity with a constitution which states that membership is only open to women.

While WI membership is only open to women, men are welcome to attend courses provided by Denman, our educational centre for learning, and take part in many activities, events and campaigns both locally and nationally.

The thing is if these organisations implode. Which I think is likely, these guys won’t care. They’re only a tool in their affirmation. I’m sure there are lots of older women and young girls who desperately need these social spaces for their mental health and socialising. They’ll just move onto something else.
DD has just left Guides. They were letting too many younger members up and it changed the nature of the group. The problem is there isn’t enough leaders for brownies and guides as it relies on good will. One of the leaders explained to me what a nightmare the Guides systems are to use and it puts them off doing anything and makes her want to leave. They have basic admin needs that need some attention before anything else.

I would have joined WI in a few years, not now. They are getting pushed out by independent groups of younger professional women locally, I don’t think they would be as receptive to men joining. My local WI is extremely elderly and struggling to attract members because of it. I imagine a lot of women would see a bloke and walk out.

I think people were confused because you appeared to define women as those with XY chromosomes, whereas biological females generally have XX chromosomes and biological males are generally XY.

So fed up with this cr@p. The attempts to drive GC women out of their jobs and get access to women and girls only places is just coercive control writ large. Bore off you (male) bullies.

I remember when it was Boy Scouts and Girl Guides, but Boy Scouts then had to let girls in whereas Girl Guides could remain single-sex. People have wondered that if the Scouts were allowed to remain single-sex would we see so many men trying to get into the Girl Guides? It's an interesting argument.

The WI on the other hand recently had a woman and her husband (now referred to as trans) on the cover of their magazine, so this should come as no surprise.

The scouts went mixed sex as they didn't have enough people wanting to join. It was the only way they could stay open. Guiding has always been oversubscribed so not had to.