“IT’S IMPORTANT for girls to have a space where they can be just girls,” the National Conference of Irish Girl Guides was told over the weekend.
Dympna Devine, a senior lecturer in UCD’s school of education who addressed delegates, said: “While girls outperform boys academically, they still have huge issues around self esteem and confidence.” Ms Devine said: “The Girl Guides can help to develop the leadership, teamwork and advocacy skills that will give girls the capacity and confidence to participate more fully in public life.”
Reigniting our Worldwas the theme of the event at which the organisation also launched a book, A Hundred Years A Growing, in celebration of its centenary next year.
Emer O’Sullivan, Irish Girl Guides chief commissioner, said the guides were “a great way for girls to improve their communication and leadership skills in an informal environment. It’s wonderful to see girls who may begin so timid become so confident.”
The guide movement, begun in England in 1909, opened its first branch in Dublin in 1911. It now has 10,000 members in the Republic of Ireland and 10 million members worldwide.
While the Scouts in Ireland have accepted girls since 1983, the guides remain female only. Emer O’Sullivan said: “It’s a girl-only space for young girls to develop team work, assertiveness, social consciousness and self respect.
“It’s about participating, not winning and because it’s girls only, they don’t have to prove themselves in front of boys.”
Asked if guiding had a middle- class image, Ms O’Sullivan said: “It’s a completely mixed group. Our girls would say they’ve met girls through guiding from different social backgrounds who they might not have spoken to at school. In the uniform, all the girls are the same.”
The organisation also has a special-needs fund which supports girls from disadvantaged backgrounds to participate.
The guides also recently revamped their look to include blue hoodies and lilac fleeces. “In the 1980s and 1990s, it was all dresses. We’re always moving with the times,” says O’Sullivan.
As part of its centenary celebrations next year, the Irish Girl Guides will hold seven simultaneous weekend camping events across the country, all linked on the internet.
In 2012, the Irish branch will host an international camp at Lough Key Forest Park where 1,000 overseas guides will look at how the association can assist with the UN’s Millennium Development goals. Irish Girl Guide alumni include Mrs Justice Catherine McGuinness, Sonia O’Sullivan, Kathryn Thomas, Myrtle Allen and Sr Stanislaus Kennedy. “Campfire songs are still part of our culture,” said Ms O’Sullivan. “And a cup of hot chocolate before bed is still a huge treat for the girls.”
