Be(ing) prepared : girl guides, colonial life, and national strength Smith, Michelle 2006, Be(ing) prepared : girl guides, colonial life, and national strength, Limina : a journal of historical and cultural studies, vol. 12, pp. 52-63. Attached Files Name Description MIMEType Size Downloads Title Be(ing) prepared : girl guides, colonial life, and national strength Author(s) Smith, Michelle Journal name Limina : a journal of historical and cultural studies Volume number 12 Start page 52 End page 63 Total pages 12 Publisher University of Western Australia Place of publication Crawley, W.A. Publication date 2006 ISSN 1324-4558 Keyword(s) girl guides British imperialism colonial life national strength Summary This paper seeks to bridge a gap in feminist critique of gender and empire with regard to the founding of the Girl Guide movement in 1909. In contrast with previous studies of the Boy Scouts, which have briefly considered Guides as a mere derivative organisation, it suggests that the formation of the Guides, and printed material such as the first handbook How Girls Can Help Build Up the Empire (1912), were grounded in notions of the part which women, and girls specifically, could play in the imperial project. This paper proposes that, although tempered by an emphasis on raising children in order to prevent the “degeneration” of the British race, the Guide handbook permits increased non-domestic activity for Edwardian girls, which is justified by aims of preparing for home defence in case of foreign attack and for life in the colonies. Language eng Field of Research 210305 British History Socio Economic Objective 970121 Expanding Knowledge in History and Archaeology HERDC Research category C1.1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal ERA Research output type C Journal article Copyright notice ©2006, The Limina Editorial Collective Persistent URL http://hdl.handle.net/10536/DRO/DU:30025558 Document type: Journal Article Collections: Faculty of Arts and Education School of Communication and Creative Arts Related Links Link Description Connect to published version (restricted access) Go to link with your DU access privileges     Unless expressly stated otherwise, the copyright for items in DRO is owned by the author, with all rights reserved. Versions Version Filter Type Wed, 24 Mar 2010, 13:10:05 EST Wed, 24 Mar 2010, 14:42:25 EST Tue, 13 Apr 2010, 17:18:49 EST Thu, 15 Apr 2010, 10:16:19 EST Fri, 16 Apr 2010, 14:31:49 EST Mon, 19 Apr 2010, 09:30:11 EST Mon, 26 Sep 2011, 15:37:37 EST Mon, 26 Sep 2011, 15:38:51 EST Wed, 15 Jan 2014, 13:10:55 EST Mon, 16 Jun 2014, 14:59:27 EST Wed, 27 Aug 2014, 22:13:56 EST Fri, 10 Oct 2014, 08:37:30 EST Filtered Full Citation counts:   Cited 0 times in TR Web of Science Cited 0 times in Scopus Search Google Scholar Access Statistics: 645 Abstract Views, 0 File Downloads  -  Detailed Statistics Created: Wed, 24 Mar 2010, 13:09:36 EST by Michelle Smith