It's still traditional wholesome fun, but the ever-popular Brownie movement is nowadays engaging with the serious modern issues that affect its membership, writes Finola Meredith.
IN A WORLD of tawdry commercialism, where our young daughters are continually tantalised with push-up bras and sultry-eyed Bratz dolls, the weekly Brownies session offers a much-needed burst of good, clean, wholesome fun. Whether it's rampaging around together in noisy team games, learning about recycling and growing daffodil bulbs for their environmental badges, or setting off together for the annual "pack holiday", being a Brownie (essentially a mini-Girl Guide) is as appealing to pre-teen schoolgirls as it ever was.
While the youngsters enjoy the challenges and the camaraderie of this girls-only space, parents tend to approve of the moral and social ethos of the organisation - the code of personal and collective responsibility, the emphasis on leadership, teamwork and empowerment - that the Brownies traditionally offer.
But much has changed in Brownie-world. While some people might hold a lingering impression of dingy uniforms, arcane games of the jolly-hockey-sticks variety, and bracing biblical strictures, the 21st-century Brownie (or Brigin Guides, as the junior Catholic Guides of Ireland are known) has a very different experience. Badgework is still to the fore, but now girls enjoy a wide range of options, from water sports and circus performing to web design and crime prevention. There's a particular emphasis on caring for the environment, with the Irish Girl Guides making the Leave No Trace campaign part of their Brownie syllabus.
All the old gender-bound badges - such as "Homemaker", "Secretary" or even "Laundress" - were crossed off the list many years ago. The shapeless tunics are also long gone, replaced by brightly coloured sweatshirts and tracksuit bottoms or, in the case of Brownies in Northern Ireland (who are part of Girlguiding UK), a rather desirable kit created by designer Ally Capellino (herself a former Brownie). As Suzanne Mason, of the Catholic Guides of Ireland, says, "our mission is to develop each girl to her fullest potential. We prepare them for life, for the choices they need to make going out into the world. What's more, we offer them a valuable chance to simply be girls among girls".
In fact, Brownies themselves are pretty clear about what they want from the movement: a survey last year by Girlguiding UK found that the girls were keen to learn how to surf the net safely, assemble flat-pack furniture, stand up to boys, lessen their carbon footprints, manage their money and master Microsoft Word. This wish-list alone is a telling snapshot of today's conscientious, pragmatic and forthright Brownie.
MAKING THE organisation vibrant and modern while still appealing to its core membership seems to be the secret of the Brownies' success. Numbers are certainly healthy in the three organisations that facilitate Brownie or Brigin groups in Ireland: the 26-county Irish Girl Guides (IGG) membership stands at 11,500, with 400 to 500 members joining each year; the 32-county Catholic Guides of Ireland has around 5,000 members, North and South; while the six-county Girlguiding Ulster has a membership of 12,000, 4,000 of whom are Brownies.
As Claire Chambers of Girlguiding Ulster points out, most other youth organisations simply cannot offer the range of adventurous programmes that girl-guiding, as a substantial global grouping, can afford.
With so many decades of experience to draw on, Brownie organisers can claim to have an insight into the mindset of the pre-teen girl like few others. Yet, for many girls, the more established, old-fashioned aspects of Brownie meetings are at least as large a part of the charm as the trendy uniforms and go-getting badges. For instance, both the IGG and Girlguiding Ulster offer new recruits a delightfully bizarre ritual when they make their all-important "Brownie promise", which inaugurates them into the great "sisterhood of guiding". Wannabe Brownies take part in an enrolment ceremony which involves toadstools, mysterious mirrors and left-handed handshakes - exactly the kind of quasi-magical goings-on that pre-teen girls love. And anyone who has watched a Brownie "grand howl" - a kind of collective squat, leap and exuberant call, performed in a circle - cannot fail to have been impressed.
These shades of apparently paganistic ritual may appear to stand at odds with what was originally a rather starchy, militaristic, Protestant organisation, founded by British army general Robert Baden-Powell in 1910. But the howling, pow-wows and campfire songs have been a feature of the worldwide scouting community, of which Brownies and Guides are members, right from the start.
Ireland was quick to catch on, and the first official company of the Girl Guide Movement was formed in 1911, in Harold's Cross, transforming into the Irish Free State Girl Guides in 1922, before becoming the Irish Girl Guides in 1938. The Catholic Guides of Ireland dates back to an organisation called Clanna Bride, formed in 1928, which eventually became Banóglaigh Catoilici na hEireann in 1977.
All the guiding organisations in Ireland make it clear that they are open to any girl, whatever her religious or ethnic background. Of course, girl-guiding has a distinctively Christian ethos, but evidently this is not a deal-breaker. Suzanne Mason, of the diocesan-based Catholic Guides of Ireland, says that "our promise does mention God, but that's open to individual interpretation".
Nonetheless, that ethos is made explicit in the promise made by all new recruits. While Brigin Guides promise to serve "God and his church", Brownies in the IGG promise to serve "God and my country" and those in Girlguiding Ulster promise to "love my God and serve my queen and my country". It's the latter promise that can give nationalist parents of prospective Brownies in the North an awkward moment.
Patricia, a teacher whose daughter joined a Brownie pack in Belfast last year, says: "Rosie was always keen to join Brownies, because all her friends were going, and I had no problem with that. She has a great time there every week, and I think it has been brilliant for her to develop more confidence and new skills. But I must admit I did feel a bit uncomfortable about the oath of allegiance to the queen. I had a word with Rosie about it, and explained that it was an old-fashioned sort of promise, and the really important thing was to always do your best for others. To be honest, she wasn't a bit concerned one way or the other. But when we went along to the enrolment ceremony, her daddy had a bit of a grumble in my ear about it."
Claire Chambers, of Girlguiding Ulster, says that while there is undoubtedly a perceived affiliation associated with the UK movement, "anyone can join - all races and creeds are welcome".
As Patricia found, the girls themselves are less bothered with the politics of Brownie discourse and far more interested in the social stimuli and the variety of colourful activities on offer every week.
Rosie (aged nine) says: "I love Brownies because no matter what you're learning about, the leaders always make it fun. Everyone is friendly, and you never get left out."
Beth (eight), Rosie's friend and fellow Brownie, says: "One of the best things about Brownies is that there are no boys. It's great to have time together with other girls, it's like a special club."
GIRL-GUIDING LEADERS have always placed a great deal of emphasis on listening to the beliefs, values and fears of the girls themselves, and in recent years parts of the movement have taken an increasingly vocal role, campaigning on gender issues such as exclusion, discrimination and exploitation. Last year, research by Girlguiding UK found that many girls aged under 10 link body image and appearance to happiness and self-esteem. Its report, Under Ten and Under Pressure?, discovered that even at such a tender age, weight and appearance were seen as key to securing the friendships girls value so highly, with girls who are slim and pretty seen as more likely to be happy, well-liked, friendly and clever.
One participant explained: "They're pretty, and because of that they might be able to run really fast and, like, they're good at, like, reading and writing and they're good at all kind of things."
The report was part of the Girls Shout Out! initiative - in which Girlguiding Ulster participates - and it called for more experts on eating disorders to be invited into schools, and for specific lessons to point out the pernicious practice of airbrushing pictures of models to make them appear even skinnier than they are.
It seems that, far from being a quaint carry-over from a previous century, the fun, empowerment and friendship of the Brownie circle offers today's girls a supportive sisterhood that is more vital than ever.
