Girl Guiding

A Guide, Girl Guide or Girl Scout is a member of a section of some Guiding organisations who is between the ages of 10 and 14. Age limits are different in each organisation. The term Girl Scout is used in the United States and several East Asian countries. The two terms are used synonymously within this article.

Girl Guides are organised into units/troops averaging 15-30 girls under guidance of a team of leaders. Units subdivide into patrols of about six Guides and engage in outdoor and special interest activities. Units may affiliate with national and international organisations. Some units, especially in Europe, have been co-educational since the 1970s, allowing boys and girls to work together as Scouts. There are other programme sections for older and younger girls.

Following the origin of the Boy Scouts in 1907 many girls took up Scouting. A group of Girl Scouts were prominent at the Crystal Palace Rally in 1909. After Robert Baden-Powell formed The Boy Scouts Association in 1910 he formed the Girl Guides and asked his sister Agnes to look after the Girl Guides organisation. A few years later Baden-Powell's new wife Olave St Clair Baden-Powell (commonly referred to as "Lady Baden-Powell") became involved and, in 1918, was appointed Chief Guide.

Originally, the Guide program was aimed at 11- to 16-year-old girls. However, the younger sisters of Guides started to attend meetings, and so the Brownie section was started. A few years later the Ranger section was started for young women. Because of the large age and development span, many associations have split the 11- to 16-year age group into a junior and a senior section.

Most activities are similar to those of the (Boy) Scouts, but two central themes have been present from the earliest days of the movement: domestic skills and "a kind of practical feminism which embodies physical fitness, survival skills, camping, citizenship training, and career preparation". These two themes have been emphasised differently at different times and by different groups, but have remained central to Girl Guiding and Girl Scouting.

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