“Women only and proud of it!” The politicization of the Girl Guides of Canada

ID:	HARP-464
Title:	“Women only and proud of it!” The politicization of the Girl Guides of Canada
Source:	Resources for Feminist Research , v.23(1/2) Spring/Summer, 1994 pg 14-23
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Dispute Resolution Organ:
Year:	1994
Pages:	0
Author(s):
Keywords:	Canada, economic, social, and cultural rights, gender equality, human rights, woman, feminist, education
Abstract:	According to the 1992 Annual Report of the Girl Guides of Canada (p. 15), 215,637 girls in Canada (nearly 10 percent of the female population aged 5-17) belong to this all female organization. In addition, the adult women members and volunteers bring the total membership to 262,320. The Girl Guides continues to flourish as the largest organization for girls and women in Canada. Despite its remarkable staying power and growth over a span of 83 years, there is very little research or writing about the significance of this single-sex organization in the lives of Canadian girls and women (Varpalotai, 1992). Indeed, the Girl Guides has functioned in a relatively low profile way until recently. This was the case until several highly publicized cases of men wanting to become leaders within the Girl Guides catapulted the organization into an unaccustomed limelight, forcing them to provide evidence to support their mandate as an exclusively female entity. Ironically, this challenge to the Girl Guides (and other all-female organizations) coincides with feminist research criticizing the mainstream educational system, particularly the predominantly co-educational public schools, for failing to address the needs of girls (Tyack and Hansot, 1990).
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