New advocates
Our girls’ passions and hopes
Our newest advocates share their passions and reasons for wanting to create change
Our Advocate panel gives girls and young women a platform to use their voices and seek change at the highest levels. Our 18 advocates help shape our research and our campaigns. Every year, we welcome nine new advocates from across the UK, who each stay on the panel for two years.
Alice
‘I applied to be an advocate hoping to be part of something that benefits a whole generation, and I was really inspired by the previous advocates’ period poverty campaign. I’d like to campaign on the prejudice faced by disabled people and the lack of women role models in sport and STEM.’
14 years old, Young Leader, 16th St Albans Rainbows and 16th St Albans Brownies
Amanda
‘Growing up, I wasn’t a confident girl. I moved houses and schools a lot because of my parents’ jobs, and my skin was darker than my classmates’, so I was always worried about fitting in. Since joining Girlguiding I’ve come out of my shell and I think being an advocate will help grow my confidence even more.’
15 years old, Young Leader, 15th Dunfermline Brownies
Kate
‘I’ve wanted to be an advocate for years because I love the idea of being able to represent young women and get their voices heard. I’m particularly interested in working on environmental justice campaigns, because teenagers are really driving this change right now and I’d like to help them be even more involved.’
21 years old, Helper, 4th Bookham Guides and 1st Bookham Rangers
Lauren
‘I’m really excited to be an advocate because I think girls have traditionally been underrepresented in politics, media and business. Young people have an important role to play in creating a more sustainable future and shaping policies. We’ll be the ones in charge one day so we need to start implementing changes now.’
18 years old, Young Leader, 1st Mottram St Andrews Guides
Henrietta
‘Right now, older people are the ones making decisions that they think are right for us, but we need to be involved too. I want to give girls the confidence to campaign and protest. The world is going to be a very different place in the future, and the older generation just isn’t taking environmental issues seriously enough.’
14 years old, 1st Badsey Rangers
Phoebe
‘It’s very easy to sign a petition or complain about something without actually taking steps to make a change, and being an advocate is a great way to actually try to change things. I’d like to do work around body image and pushing for stricter regulations of adverts, as they distort our ideas of what a “normal” body is.’
19 years old, Young Leader, 1st Winnersh Brownies
Caitlyn
‘I find a lot of the Girlguiding units in Northern Ireland are very segregated, so my main aim is to encourage more interaction between them. I’d like to make us more of a community and have shared camps and events, because it would give the girls more opportunities to make friends and connections.’
19 years old, Trainee Leader, 1st Dundonald Brownies
Francoise
‘There are so many reasons to want to be an advocate! A big one for me was the desire to help build girls’ confidence, because I know that when I’ve achieved things, it’s been when I really believed in myself. I took a gap year, which really opened my eyes to inequality in the workplace, so that’s something I want to focus on.’
19 years old, Assistant Leader, 1st Wickford Guides
Madeleine
‘I thought being an advocate was something extra I could do to really make a difference. One area I’d like to campaign on is gender stereotypes – I still see a lot of stereotyping in children’s magazines and products. I think these should be regulated, or at least not labelled as “for boys” or “for girls”.’
21 years old, Leader, 4th Cheltenham Guides
Spread the word! Use the social media buttons below to share this article with your guiding friends