Girl Guides in Canada and around the world are celebrating the movement’s 100th anniversary this year. Canadian festivities kick off on Saturday.
The girl guiding movement began in London in 1910 when a group tenacious young women who had been copying the their brothers in scouting—usually in secret—challenged the norms of the day and moved beyond needlework to tracking, stopping runaway horses, and even rescuing people from burning buildings, according to the organization’s website.
“Both their mothers and the general public were shocked and horrified at the girls’ escapades and appearance—skirts hiked up, wearing Scout hats, carrying stout broomsticks hung about with whistles, knives and enormous haversacks decorated with large red crosses,” it continues.
Today, with about 10 million individual members globally, Girl Guides is one of the largest girl-focused organizations in the world and is aimed at engaging girls and young women in world issues and making a positive difference through self-empowerment.
The girl guiding movement began in London in 1910 when a group tenacious young women who had been copying the their brothers in scouting—usually in secret—challenged the norms of the day and moved beyond needlework to tracking, stopping runaway horses, and even rescuing people from burning buildings, according to the organization’s website.
“Both their mothers and the general public were shocked and horrified at the girls’ escapades and appearance—skirts hiked up, wearing Scout hats, carrying stout broomsticks hung about with whistles, knives and enormous haversacks decorated with large red crosses,” it continues.
Today, with about 10 million individual members globally, Girl Guides is one of the largest girl-focused organizations in the world and is aimed at engaging girls and young women in world issues and making a positive difference through self-empowerment.
