Recently I’ve been reading about Girl Guides and Girl Scouts. The World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS) represents ten million girls in 150 countries around the globe. All of these girls are united by making a promise and sharing core values, however the exact promise varies from country to country. I’ve looked at the Girl Guide or Girl Scout promises from eight countries: the UK, the USA, Australia, Malawi, Nigeria, Syria, India, and Portugal. I find it interesting how similar the promises and laws are even with the diversity of these cultures. They have more in common than they have things that separate them. However, there are also subtle differences that perhaps reveal something about the countries’ cultures.
God
The UK and Australia, as increasingly secular countries, have removed God from their promises to make it more inclusive to girls of different beliefs. However, they both encourage girls to learn and develop their own beliefs about spirituality. The USA has kept the wording of ‘serve God’, although they allow girls to adjust this to accommodate different beliefs. Religiously diverse India also allows the wording to be adjusted from God to Dharma if so desired. Dharma is a concept in several Indian religions about duties and the right way of living. Portugal, by contrast, as a predominantly Roman Catholic country has additional references to God in their promise and law. This includes saying they will keep their promise ‘with God’s help’ and that they will see ‘the hand of God in nature’. Malawi, Nigeria, and Syria all include ‘duty to God’ in their promises.
It’s interesting to note the differences of language such as ‘serve God’, ‘duty to God’, or ‘love God’. Before Girlguiding UK introduced its current secular promise with ‘to be true to myself and develop my beliefs’, the promise used to say ‘to love my God’ – which was the promise I made as a child. The ‘my’ meant it was inclusive to girls of different religions with different gods, although it didn’t recognise atheists or agnostics. However, the wording of ‘love’ also suggests a different relationship to God than the promise of my mother’s generation – which said ‘to do my duty to God’.
Optimism
In Australia, Girl Guides strive to be optimistic. In Nigeria, they promise to be cheerful and to smile and sing under all difficulties. Likewise in Malawi, the Guide law declares they should be ‘cheerful in all difficulties’. Interestingly, for whatever reason, there is no mention of positivity in the Girl Guide and Girl Scout promises and laws of the UK, USA, or India – despite it being a repeated theme in other countries. Yet, although not outright optimism, there is an implied hopefulness in the USA Girl Scouts striving to make the world a better place. The UK Guides also find a subtle silver lining in aiming to learn and hence move forward from the challenges that face them. Guides in Syria promise to smile under all difficulties. Presumably this must be a genuine smile, since they also promise to be truthful! Meanwhile, in Portugal girls promise that they will be ‘always cheerful’, or at least ‘with God’s help, to do my best’.
Authority
In Nigeria, Guides promise to be obedient and obey orders – although it doesn’t specify who can give these orders or what the orders might be. In Malawi Guides promise to be obedient and self-controlled, whilst in Syria and Portugal they also promise to be obedient. It’s interesting to note that these more traditional countries use the term ‘obedient’ whereas the UK, USA, and Australian promises make no such requests. In the UK, as well as in Malawi, girls promise to serve the Queen, but since the Queen is a symbolic figurehead with little political power, she only represents their country and not an actual authority figure. Girl Scouts in the USA promise to ‘respect authority’, but only after promising to ‘respect myself and others’. Girl Scouts in the USA make no promises to necessarily obey or agree with that authority, especially if it conflicts with respecting themselves or other people.
The strongest statement about authority is in India where Bulbuls (the Indian equivalent of Brownies, aged 5-10) must ‘give in to elders’ – apparently every and all elders, regardless of what they are asking. This trusts that elders won’t ask the girls to do anything harmful, which is hopefully true most of the time but not necessarily always the case. However, when the Bulbuls grow up to become Guides there is no mention in the promise or laws of them giving in to elders or obeying authority. This is presumably because by that age they’re thought to be sensible enough to judge situations for themselves, and to no longer be troublesome or obstinate little children!
Adventure
Out of the eight countries we’ve been looking at here, the UK is the only one in which the promise or law actively promotes the girls seeking adventures and challenging themselves. Guides in the UK promise to ‘face challenge and learn from her experience’, while acting in accordance to the integrity of the rest of the Guide laws. These challenges are seen as personal and positive self-growth experiences. Girl Scouts in the USA aim to be ‘courageous and strong’ with the bigger picture goal of making the world a better place. Australian Guides ‘live with courage and strength’, but may do that in their everyday lives rather than seeking out opportunities for personal challenges. Portugal has no reference to courage or adventure at all in its promise or law, aiming simply to be ‘thrifty’ and ‘pure in thought, word and deed’. Indian Guides strive to be ‘courageous’ and ‘thrifty’, whilst Guides in Nigeria and Syria also endeavour to be thrifty.
What is notable is that Malawi, Nigeria, and Syria seem to have a different understanding of courage to the UK and USA, for example. From ‘has courage and is cheerful in all difficulties’ and ‘smiles and sings under all difficulties’ it sounds like they have experienced real difficulties. Guides in these countries know the meaning of true hardship that they have to be courageous though. Perhaps they’re presented with enough challenges and don’t feel the need to seek out more. However, they likely also have fewer opportunities than their Girl Guide and Girl Scout sisters in more affluent countries.
Girl Guiding was banned in Malawi for several decades until 1995, as it was replaced by a youth movement associated with the country’s only political party. All youth organisations, including Guiding and Scouting, were banned in Syria from the 1980s because of dangerous influences from extremist groups, however since Guiding has been allowed to restart it’s successfully gained trust and credibility from the people. Girl Guides have never been banned in Nigeria, however Nigeria has had plenty of other conflict and political struggles, despite being the second most affluent country in Africa
Below I’ve shared the Girl Guide and Girl Scout promises and laws from the eight countries that I’ve talked about in this blog article. I’ve only commented on a few differences that I’ve noted between them. Can you identify any other themes of interest?
UK
Rainbows Promise (age 5-7): I promise that I will do my best to think about my beliefs and to be kind and helpful.
Promise (age 7+): I promise that I will do my best, to be true to myself and develop my beliefs, to serve the Queen and my community, to help other people and to keep the (Brownie) Guide Law.
Brownie Guide Law (age 7-10): A Brownie Guide thinks of others before herself and does a good turn every day.
Guide Law (age 10+): 1) A Guide is honest, reliable and can be trusted.
2) A Guide is helpful and uses her time and abilities wisely.
3) A Guide faces challenge and learns from her experiences.
4) A Guide is a good friend and a sister to all Guides.
5) A Guide is polite and considerate.
6) A Guide respects all living things and takes care of the world around her.
USA
Promise: On my honour, I will try:
To serve God* and my country,
To help people at all times,
And to live by the Girl Scout Law.
*Girls may substitute the word God in accordance with their own spiritual beliefs.
Girl Scout Law: I will do my best to be
honest and fair,
friendly and helpful,
considerate and caring,
courageous and strong, and
responsible for what I say and do,
and to
respect myself and others,
respect authority,
use resources wisely,
make the world a better place, and
be a sister to every Girl Scout.
Australia
Promise: I promise that I will do my best
To be true to myself and develop my beliefs
To serve my community and Australia
And live by the Guide Law.
Guide Law: As a Guide I will strive to:
Respect myself and others.
Be considerate, honest and trustworthy.
Be friendly to others.
Make choices for a better world.
Use my time and abilities wisely.
Be thoughtful and optimistic.
Live with courage and strength.
Malawi
Promise: I promise that I will do my best: To do my duty to God, To serve the Queen and my country and other people, and To keep the Guide Law.
Guide Law: 1) A Guide is loyal and can be trusted.
2) A Guide is helpful.
3) A Guide is polite and considerate.
4) A Guide is friendly and a sister to all Guides.
5) A Guide is kind to animals and respects all living things.
6) A Guide is obedient.
7) A Guide has courage and is cheerful in all difficulties.
8) A Guide makes good use of her time.
9) A Guide takes care of her own possessions and those of other people.
10) A Guide is self-controlled in all she thinks, says and does.
Nigeria
Brownie Promise (age 7-10): I promise to do my best: To do my duty to God and my country, To help other people every day, especially those at home.
Brownie Law (age 7-10): 1) A Brownie is truthful, obedient and cheerful.
2) A Brownie thinks of others before herself.
Promise (age 10+): I promise, on my honour, to do my best: To do my duty to God and my country, To help other people at all times, and To obey the Guide Law.
Guide Law (age 10+): 1) A Guide’s honour is to be trusted.
2) A Guide is loyal.
3) A Guide’s duty is to be useful and to help others.
4) A Guide is a friend to all, and a sister to every other Guide.
5) A Guide is courteous.
6) A Guide is a friend to animals.
7) A Guide obeys orders.
8) A Guide smiles and sings under all difficulties.
9) A Guide is thrifty.
10) A Guide is pure in thought, word and deed.
Syria
Promise: On my honour, I promise that I will do my best to do my duty to God and my country, to help others and to obey the Girl scout/Girl Guides law.
Guide Law: 1) A girl scout is truthful.
2) A girl scout is loyal.
3) A girl scout is useful.
4) A girl scout is a brother to all other girl scouts.
5) A girl scout is courteous.
6) A girl scout is a friend to the environment.
7) A girl scout is obedient.
8) A girl scout smiles under all difficulties.
9) A girl scout is thrifty.
10) A girl scout is pure in thought in word and in deed.
11) A girl scout’s honour is to be trusted and relied on.
India
Bulbul Promise (age 5-10): I promise to do my best: To do my duty to God* and my country, To keep the Law of the Bulbul flock and To do a good turn every day.
*The word Dharma can be substituted for God if so desired.
Bulbul Law (age 5-10): 1) The Bulbul gives in to the elders.
2) The Bulbul is clean and courteous.
Promise (age 10+): On my honour, I promise that I will do my best: To do my duty to God* and my country, To help other people, and To obey the Guide Law.
*The word Dharma can be substituted for God if so desired.
Guide Law (age 10+): 1) A Guide is trustworthy.
2) A Guide is loyal.
3) A Guide is a friend to all and a sister to every other Guide.
4) A Guide is courteous.
5) A Guide is a friend to animals and loves nature.
6) A Guide is disciplined and helps protect public property.
7) A Guide is courageous.
8) A Guide is thrifty.
9) A Guide is pure in thought, word and deed.
Portugal
Little Bird Promise (age 6-10): A Little Bird is obedient. A Little Bird is always clean and tidy. A Little Bird is cheerful. A Little Bird always tells the truth.
Promise (age 10+): I promise, on my honour and with God’s help, to do my best: To do my duty to God and country, To help other people at all times, and Obey the Guide Law.
Guide Law (age 10+): 1) A Guide’s honour is sacred, and her word worthy of complete trust.
2) A Guide is loyal.
3) A Guide is useful and does a good deed every day.
4) A Guide is a friend to all and a sister to every other Guide.
5) A Guide is kind and courteous.
6) A Guide sees the hand of God in nature and protects plants and animals.
7) A Guide is obedient.
8) A Guide is always cheerful.
9) A Guide is thrifty, likes good order and respects the property of others.
10) A Guide is pure in thought, word and deed.
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