Girlguiding organisation refuses young girls ‘not assigned female at birth’ into their association
By Abby Campbell
Transgender girls no longer accepted in Girlguiding (Image: Unsplash)
The Girlguiding organisation announced that transgender girls and young women will no longer be able to join the Girl Guides, Brownies or Rainbows.
After the April Supreme Court ruling, stating that the ‘legal definition’ of a woman is based on biological sex, and not their own chosen identity.
The National Federation of Women’s Institutes (NFWI) stated that after April 2026, transgender women will not be allowed to apply for a formal membership to the NFWI.
One parent, who spoke out on the condition of anonymity, sent a pre-action letter to the organisation alleging that the policy held by them is responsible for exposing “girls to harassment”, this included “sharing toilets, showers or changing facilities with boys, contact sports with boys, all without their knowledge and consent”.
This was seen by The Times, declared that the policy has created an “intimidating, hostile, humiliating or offensive environment” for the young girls.
This decision will affect members looking to join the Girl Guides, but this will not affect standing members of the organisation.
More information on this will be released later this week.
The change will also not affect the volunteers; These roles will remain open to all.
(Image: Getty Images)
Since 2018, Girlguiding has welcomed transgender girls to the organisation as its policy was updated on single-sex admission, at the time, the organisation announced that they were ‘proudly trans inclusive’.
The organisation claims to remain “committed to treating everyone with dignity and respect, particularly those from marginalised groups that have felt the biggest impact of this decision.”
The Girlguiding organisation was founded in 1909 by siblings Agnes and Robert Baden-Powell under the World Association of Girl Guide and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS).
Although the association has done good for young people, it hasn’t steered clear for controversy.
In March 2010, there was three bundles of declassified documents from 1937-1944 submitted into the National Archives – these were acquired by the World Scout Bureau for examination. They mostly stated the movement of the Hitler Youth members in the UK – most documents being under the heading of the Nazi Youth Movement.
A letter sent in November 1937 by Robert Baden-Powell to German ambassador of the time, Joachim von Ribbentrop, to ‘thank and meet’ Jochen Benemann and Hartmann Lauterbach, who were Hitler Youth officials of that time. They were in hope of meeting and bringing together the two youth groups as Ribbentrop “sees in the Scout Movement a very powerful agency”. However, the report carries no instructions that Baden-Powell was to have gone along with Ribbentrop’s suggestions.
Robert Baden-Powell had connection to Nazi Youth Movement (Image: Getty Images)
On the 11 June 2020, the statue of Baden-Powell in Poole, Dorset, was removed due to his racist ideologies and the claims of him being a ‘Nazi Sympathiser’.
Vikki Slade, Council leader at the time, said: “Whilst famed for the creation of the scouts, we also recognised that there are some aspects of Robert Baden-Powell’s life that are considered less worthy of commemoration”.
A joint statement was published on Tuesday by Girlguiding’s chairwoman of trustees, Denise Wilson, chief executive Felicity Oswald and the chief guide Tracy Foster.
They said: “Girlguiding has reached the difficult decision that going forward, membership of Girlguiding will be restricted to girls and young women, as defined in the Equality Act (2010).
“Many organisations across the country have been facing complex decisions about what it means for girls and women and for the wider communities affected.
“From today (December 2) trans girls and young women, and others not recorded female at birth, will no longer be able to join Girlguiding as new young members.”