British Mi5 Preferred Bp's Girl Guides Over Boy Scouts

[RememberSchiff]

1909 - British MI5 (home) Security Service established

1908 - BP publishes Scouting for Boys, Boy Scout movement begins

1910 - BP forms Girl Guides

1914-1918 WWI

 

The Girl Guides were formed by Robert Baden-Powell in 1910. The movement was considered radical at first. In an age when skirts were ankle length and young ladies never ran, the idea of girls camping, hiking and the like did not go down well.

 

Critics denounced "girl scouting" as a "mischievous new development", a "foolish and pernicious movement" and an "idiotic sport". But, determined to show they could beat the boys at their own game, these fledgling Guides threw themselves into the new movement. By 1912 badges on offer included air mechanic, cyclist, electrician, sailor, telegraph operator and even tailor. They were 300,000-strong by the start of the First World War.

 

Government departments began contacting the Girl Guides and the Boy Scouts, seeking teenagers to work as messengers and backroom staff to assist the war effort. At first there were both Scouts and Guides working for MI5. But it soon became clear that the boys were too boisterous and talkative and couldn't adapt to periods of inactivity between their duties. It was felt that the girls were more restrained and could be trusted to a greater degree, so the Boy Scouts were phased out. A total of 90 Guides worked for MI5 during the course of the war and their main duties were as messengers, which often involved them going out of the buildings. Some of the top-secret messages had to be passed on verbally, which shows how much the girls were trusted.

 

Wonder if BP was amused by this?

 

http://www.scotlandswar.ed.ac.uk/Midlothian/Home-Front-Girl-Guides/Girl-Guides-and-MI5

https://www.mi5.gov.uk/home/about-us/who-we-are/mi5-history/mi5s-early-years.html

[qwazse]

When the crew needs outside-of-the-box ideas, I ask the boys.

When they need to implement them, I ask the girls.

[resqman]

Duh.  Look at todays school system and how boys are punished for being boys.  They are told to sit, be still and be quiet.  In other words, act like a woman.   ADD and ADHD are higher in males.  Maybe because Activity is a natural characteristic of males.  Adult males don't sit around and gab with their male friends, they go out and do an activity.  When men are bored, they do stuff.  They start small and escalate the activity until it explodes or someone gets hurt.  Then they up the ante and do it again. 

 

Sounds like the task that MI5 had was better suited to the general female way of doing things and not well suited for the general way in which males do things. 

 

Sure there are plenty of exceptions and many will call this sexist.  Sports teams don't select valedictorians, they select athletes,  Computer companies pick students.  Choose the best person for the job.  

[Eagle94-A1]

Wonder if BP was amused by this?

 

 

He was probably to busy driving the Germans nuts on the continent. I read somewhere that just the rumor of him coming to the continent drove German counterintelligence nuts.

 

I think  there was a very good reason he was on the Operation Sea Lion hit list in WWII.

[fred johnson]

Look at todays school system and how boys are punished for being boys.  They are told to sit, be still and be quiet.  In other words, act like a woman.

 

So very very true.  There is a strong bias and sexism against boys starting right from the start in elementary school.

[Cambridgeskip]

When the crew needs outside-of-the-box ideas, I ask the boys.

When they need to implement them, I ask the girls.

 

Sounds familiar with a mixed troop. The girls are better at getting in right first time, the boys are better at fixing it when it goes wrong.

[Eamonn]

She isn't called "Her Who Must Be Obeyed" For no reason!