Girl guiding introducing a 'more inclusive' uniform

[nothingcomestonothing]

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13062715/Girl-Guides-Brownies-introduce-inclusive-new-uniform-row-trans-children.html

Sorry if there's already a thread, I haven't seen one. No idea what hasn't yet been included in the guide uniform such that it needs to be more inclusive.

Quote from Hemingway, who's designing it: 'We urge each and every one of this influential 370,000 strong community to have their say and together let's make a positive step for society.' They seem not to have qualified that suggestion with 'but not if you think men aren't women though, don't have your say then'. Weird.

I loved culottes, pretty much lived in them and dungarees in the early 90s

Me too. DSs junior school has culottes for the girls. I thought this was brilliant as some of the girls were very tall by the time they were 13 and they could be kids and play around without worrying about flashing their pants.

I still miss the brown dresses for brownies, and a bobble hat - I loved my uniform and contrary to popular belief, we could even climb trees in them (we did!)

Culottes were a very practical item! My DD chooses to wear shorts to school over a skirt... I think she would have liked culottes.

(To a PP who mentioned the scout trousers... the sizing isn't any better unfortunately)

I’ve filled in the initial survey, so could how the questions were framed —so as to get the desired outcome—. There was a lot of mention about sustainability and inclusion. I actually don’t think it’s about trans in this case, trousers have always been an option - most guides wear the top and their own trousers. The tops are hideous, garish and appear to be rather flammable. The girls hate them, they look embarrassingly scruffy at eg remembrance parades and the public does not recognise them as Girl Guides. More annoyingly they need an entirely new uniform every 3 years or so as they move section (although many wear second hand). They are really weird shapes too - the brownie top is very short and wide so only fits round shaped girls and the rangers top is incredibly long and narrow so only fits 6ft+ size 6 girls. In short it’s a mess and does need sorting out! I am hoping that there is more continuity between sections, a standard pair of practical trousers would be good. Something practical but tidy and identifiable. Leaders uniform also shrinks like a bastard and there are only top half things, no bottoms.

Why can’t they just say ‘practical’ I cringe when I hear the word ‘inclusion’ these days as it so often means inclusion of those who ought not be included (to the detriment of those who really ought to be), no thank you very much.

@PuttingDownRoots I was meaning “with sensible sizing” - the bit to emulate being an item that goes across sections.

@Meadowy the Leader trousers & shorts from the noughties through to 2010s were quite good as an idea; but were expensive & ill-fitting. Pockets that zipped shut were great though.

Possibly changing the uniform all the time might relate to the lack of recognition?

It sounds like it needs sorting in terms of quality and fit but in the larger picture it might be worth doing a good job at that and then stop fiddling with it.

The Guides uniform from 2014 onwards is horrendous, and everyone said so at the time; in fact, there was thread after thread about it on mumsnet! It looks like a Dominos pizza delivery uniform.

The fashion students yapped about promoting body confidence, but as far as I could see, you'd need body confidence to wear their design.

Wow I just googled the guides uniform- it is hideous! My son is is beavers so I only saw the scouts uniforms recently.

I would have hated to wear that- what were they thinking!?

There have been multiple updates of the u if one in the last 30yrs. So basically making it a trans issue now.

The current guides uniform is indeed hideous - expensive, scratchy, nasty, hard uncomfortable synthetic sweaty fabrics in ugly designs and shapes. The sizing is rubbish. The colours are hideous and don’t actually match properly across different items. The nasty hard synthetic sweaty expensive too-big hoodie is the worst, but all of it tbh looks like a pizza delivery uniform from 2003.

About time for a redesign, but I have zero confidence that it will actually look at all nice, or be even remotely linked to the history of the organisation and the needs of girls.

And with enough polyester content to keep your hair standing on end for a week.

I don't know what they were thinking, at all.

The inclusive bit is about making it work for all those involved. The leader uniform currently is rubbish and def doesnt cater to women's bodies properly. Lots of members say that the current uniform doesnt work for ND girls who might have sensory issues around clothing etc. The sizing on the current uniform is really random.

So you think the changes are going to be,

better for fitting female bodies
softer feeling material
standard sizing

I bet it isn’t all 3 of those things.

I think they need to look at affordability too. Guiding and Scouting are two of the most affordable activities for children... yet the uniform is expensive for what it is.

The option to be able to buy a plain colour top in the right colour from the school uniform section would be useful (we tell our Cubs parents this... that dark green polo shirts look practically the same as Cubs branded ones, especially under the sweatshirts!)

Puttingdownroots - that won’t make them any money though!

Don't you know, women's bodies aren't allowed?

DD has gone through Rainbows, Brownies and Guides. She's worn polo tops, hoodies and leggings. Sash for special occasions. All of it has been practical, comfortable and long lasting enough to pass on second hand. In fact some of her Brownies stuff was second hand already when we got it. I honestly can't see what needs redesigning?? It all just screams huge waste of resources to me 😕

I do agree though the Guides uniform is not as good as the Rainbows and Brownies stuff. The choice of hoodie material is odd.

"At the time a Girlguiding spokesman said: 'Girlguiding is an inclusive organisation which empowers members to find their voice and discover the best in themselves.

'We're proud to be trans-inclusive, and our trans-inclusive equality and diversity policy is grounded in the Equality Act 2010".

Inclusive seems to be an end goal in and of itself, and what it means is "this minority group we are championing gets to dictate to the rest".

I wonder what they would do to member who find their voice, and voice opposition to having biological males in the organisation.

I would love to know how their 'trans-inclusive equality and diversity policy grounded in the Equality Act' squares the wish of some males to be treated as female, with the needs of some females for single sex provision. How many Muslim girls have been excluded by their inclusive policy? How many sexually abused girls? We'll never know, because no one is asking. No one cares. That's their 'equality', and it's fucking shit.

Maybe they mean ‘trans boys’? FFS.