Scouts to rename ‘dinner ladies’ in update of style guide

Leaders have also banned terms ‘man-made’ and ‘falling on deaf ears’

The term “dinner ladies” will be renamed under a new style guide issued by Scout leaders.

Instead, they will be named “school meal supervisors”. The style guide also bans the use of terms “man-made”, “falling on deaf ears”, and “maiden name”.

This guide has been introduced to encourage equality among the group, and to avoid causing offence to people of “all genders, religions, races and to those who live with a disability”.

The document adds that Scouts will now play “broken telephone” instead of “Chinese whispers” and will not refer to Australia and New Zealand as “down under”.

In a statement, the Scout Association said: “We’re proud to ensure that everything we do is as inclusive as possible, and using the right language is part of that process.”

The document comes as Girlguiding UK has asked its leaders to learn close to 100 gender-inclusive terms so they can discuss LGBT+ subjects with their members.

Advice on Girlguiding reads: “There are so many identities and experiences in the LGBT+ community. We’ve put together some simple advice, explained lots of terms and suggested some activities that you can do with any section. It might be worth printing off or having it on your phone so you can reference it.”

The glossary includes terms such as aromantic, demisexual and agender.

In 2018, Girl Guides launched new badges including mindfulness, vlogging and human rights.

The organisation introduces 800 new badges at the time to “reflect the diversity of girls and modern life in the 21st Century”.

At the same time, Brownies – which is for girls aged seven to 10 – introduced badges such as zero waste, mindfulness, baking and archaeology.

Rangers, for girls aged 14 to 18, were able to study for badges in women’s rights, festival goers and entrepreneurs.