Forget Hostessing And Needlework: These Brownies Got A Virtual Reality Tech Badge

    Oh, hostess badge, how far we've come.

    Hazel Shearing
    by Hazel Shearing

    BuzzFeed News Reporter

    A group of Brownies and Guides in Cornwall have become the first in the world to be awarded a virtual reality technology badge.

    Girl Guides Victoria @guidesvic

    There's an amazing Girl Guides Virtual Reality Badge in the UK! Shout out to the University of Birmingham for supporting Guides interested in VR Technology and STEM. https://t.co/5poaemFQKf @unibirmingham @Girlguiding @girlguidesaust #GirlsInSTEM #girlguides https://t.co/p50FLmsLVt

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    It was awarded to girls from Saltash District Brownies and Guides after they helped researchers design virtual environments for sick children in hospital.

    Bob Stone, head of the University of Birmingham's Human Interface Technologies Team, who led the project, told BuzzFeed News he was thrilled with their work.

    "We had this idea of bringing together this fantasy garden, where we could put children who are in pain into the garden and give them quests and challenges to do," he said. "We've been using some of the ideas from the girls to inspire this virtual reality garden."

    The girls got to try out different VR environments for inspiration, from Japanese gardens to dust clouds on Mars.

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    University of Birmingham Human Interface Technologies Team

    Although it's not an official Girlguiding badge, Stone hopes that the national organisation introduces something similar. He worries that some programmes designed to teach children how to design and code are outdated.

    "After a while they can still be quite dry in terms of challenging youngsters —and it's not just girls — to motivate them, to think 'this is what I want to do'. But if you put them into a Japanese garden, or [on Mars], just looking at their faces really tells it all," Stone said.

    "The great thing was that even the youngsters were asking intelligent questions. It wasn't just 'this is awesome', it was very much 'how does this work?'"

    It comes ahead of the biggest ever shake-up in Girlguiding this year, as the national organisation embraces the fast-moving world of tech with a new range of badges.

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    A survey carried out by the UK Girlguiding organisation last year found that 30% of Guides thought computing was "more for boys" and only 16% of those aged 7 to 21 felt confident in their digital skills.

    "It’s fantastic the Brownies and Guides in Saltash have been able to experience virtual reality, exploring ways to make a difference in their local community through the virtual world they helped to create," Sophie Hedley, a member of Girlguiding’s Advocate Panel, told BuzzFeed News.

    "We’re all about encouraging girls to try new things and this summer we’ll be revealing a programme of new badges and activities as part of our biggest ever overhaul, which will give girls access to even more exciting opportunities – including innovative ways to explore STEM."

    A digital design badge will feature among the new range, and Brownies will be able to take part in a new programme created in partnership with Google. Girlguiding has also teamed up with Microsoft for a research project to assess how girls see their own digital skills.

    As well as tech, the new badges will focus on engineering and science. An aviation badge, sponsored by EasyJet, will see Brownies carrying out their own aircraft experiments.

    Girlguiding made a big effort to engage girls in politics this year, releasing a badge for the centenary of women's suffrage and asking girls to hold their own elections, complete with political parties and manifestos.

    Girlguiding

    It's all a far cry from what things used to look like.

    ebay/ snordy_2007/ Via ebay.co.uk

    Remember this? Of course you do. It's the dreaded hostess badge. Cast your mind back to shakily serving cups of tea and neatly arranging biscuits under Brown Owl's critical eye — all in the name of adding another badge to your sash.

    Back when girls were encouraged to aspire to their needlework and knitting badges from their first Brownie promise.

    warton.idps.co.uk

    Yes, there was even a housekeeping badge.

    warton.idps.co.uk

    Brownies still do a "home skills" badge today, which requires them to clean, iron and lay tables.

    The same survey that assessed girls' attitudes to tech found that 57% of girls aged 7 to 10 thought they were better at doing household chores than boys. At the same time, 15% of those aged 11 to 21 said gender stereotypes made them feel less important than the boys around them.

    Long live the Brownie revolution!

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