Back to the Spice age: Whatever happened to girl power?

The world's favourite girl band is reuniting. They're not looking bad - but has their message stood the test of time? Victoria Summerley considers; while six former wannabes look back in wonder

Girl power, huh? Just when we females - educated by Germaine Greer, Shirley Conran and the orgasm features in Cosmopolitan magazine - had finally learnt to call each other women (if not persons), along came Ginger, Posh, Baby, Scary and Sporty and turned us all back into girls.

And in a way, that was what girl power was about. It wasn't about empowerment in the classic feminist or economic senses - equal pay, maternity rights, help with child care, legislation to prevent sex discrimination. It was about being proud of being a girl (as opposed to a wannabe man) - of dressing up, of not being scared to look sexy, of being outrageous if you wanted to, of being soft and feminine if that was your thing, or of being a T-shirt and jeans type, and going out with your mates and having a good time.

Ironically, by reinforcing the stereotypes, those cut-out personas - Sporty, Scary, Posh et al - gave women more to choose from than the one-size-fits-all, having-it-all Superwoman caricature that preceded them. (Now there was a Scary concept, if ever one existed.)

In the Seventies, young women had their consciousnesses raised to the point where, in the Eighties, they were banging their heads on glass ceilings, buoyed up by enormous shoulder pads and yuppie aspirations. Sex and the City in those days meant giving women jobs as bankers and fund managers.

But by the Nineties, we'd all begun to realise that the company Porsche was destroying the environment, the 12-hour day was destroying our health and families, and the power suit was bloody uncomfortable compared to trackie bottoms, trainers and a vest top. When the Spice Girls released "Wannabe" in 1996, those insidious lyrics - "Tell me what you want, what you really, really want" - seemed like an anthem for all those girls who were fed up with being told - by feminists, career advisers, parents, politicians, fashion designers - what they wanted rather than deciding for themselves.

Was that enough to bring lasting success? Loads of trite songs go straight to the top of the charts. But "Wannabe" not only topped the charts in 22 countries, including Britain and America, it remains one of the best-selling records by a female group in the history of sound. Altogether, including albums and singles, the Spices have sold 53 million records worldwide. Yes, a good marketing ploy - and at the time, girl power was attacked by critics as being exactly that - can launch a band but it has to strike some sort of chord with the public, otherwise that band will simply fade away. So what was the Spicy secret?

When the Spice Girls first materialised, springing fully formed from their record company, like Athena from the brow of Zeus, they were objects of ridicule to any serious music fan: something for little girls to shriek about and mimic in the playground. But objects of ridicule have one very effective weapon: they make you smile. Before long, the Spices - prefabricated, stereotypical and apparently incapable of singing in tune - had wriggled and giggled their way into the nation's affections.

Even those of us inclined to be pompous about manufactured girl bands began to be won over by their sheer irrepressibility. They were photographed with Prince Charles. They were photographed with Nelson Mandela. Posh started going out with David Beckham. Ginger became best friends with George Michael. And even when they were making their preposterous "girl power" statements (during the 1997 election, Geri Halliwell described Margaret Thatcher as the original Spice Girl), we still smiled indulgently.

It's just as well their message had nothing to do with feminism, because not one of them could be said in any way to have empowered anyone, least of all girls. Indeed, far from being beacons of female advancement, they seem to have embraced the most traditional of roles, going from onstage to offspring via a series of paparazzi shots showing them on the arms of much more famous men.

Posh - Victoria Beckham - is a wife, mother and fashion icon; all tasks she appears to perform extremely well, but not exactly groundbreaking in the sense of engendering social change. She stood by her megastar man when it was revealed that he had had an affair; since then she has rarely been photographed not standing beside him. Despite having the highest ex-Spice profile, it is her husband's name by which she is known.

Melanie Brown - Scary - is currently embroiled in an acrimonious paternity suit with the actor and comedian Eddie Murphy, who denies he is the father of her child. Rich, powerful guy versus less rich, less powerful woman: that's a nice story for our 21st-century daughters. Ginger - Geri Halliwell - has flirted with a solo career, Chris Evans and New Age health disciplines (not necessarily in that order) but although she's gained a daughter, Bluebell Madonna, she seems to have lost her fire since departing from the Spice cupboard.

Melanie Chisholm - Sporty - is still trying to make headway in her solo career (her latest outing was at the Isle of Wight festival) but has yet to make her own name resonate throughout the land. Baby Spice - Emma Bunton, the one all the little girls wanted to have as their big sister - is now expecting a baby of her own after being diagnosed with endometriosis. They're not exactly Hall of Fame material. The only way any of them will hit the Hall of Fame is as a group.

So will a reformed Spice Girls recapture the success they enjoyed a decade ago? I don't think so. How can they hope to recreate the cheeky exuberance, the attitude and, yes, innocence, that made the original concept so irresistible?

The girl power has gone, and in its place we have five grown women. With their carefully coiffed hair and lipglossed smiles, they might still be able to smile for the cameras, but underneath, they'll know that cheeky slogans and good management don't cut any ice with teething children and reluctant fathers and fertility problems and husbands who play away from home. The hardest act they'll have to follow is themselves.

SPICE FANS

Imogen McSmith 15, school student from London

"I had the lunchbox, the CDs, the posters, the stickers - everything. Baby Spice was my favourite, and I even died my hair blonde when I was nine so I could look like her.

"Everyone at school divided into groups of five and acted out their songs in assemblies. When one of the girls in my class went to see them I was really jealous. Everyone crowded around her asking for all the details. I loved the film and it was all anyone could talk about for weeks. I think they were quite good role models in a way because they were all different, and that made it cool to be different. It will be fun for girls my age to remember them when they get back together, but it won't be the same - I'm into indie music now."

Jenna Edwards 21, sales assistant from Essex

"I was in junior school, and about eight or nine when they got big. They were the first real girl band, and everyone wanted to be them.

"I knew all their songs and me and my friends had a dance for each song. I played Baby Spice because I had blonde hair, but there was always a fight over who got to be Posh or Baby, because no-one wanted to be Scary or Sporty.

"I'd still go and watch them now, because our mums didn't take us the first time round. I reckon they'll be sold out though, from people our age wanting to see them again.

My favourite song was 'Who Do You Think You Are'.

"I still listen to their first album, because it's got all their best tunes, and I still know all the words."

Lucy Wood 17, student from Gloucestershire

"I absolutely loved them, and they're a piece of my childhood, but I'm not into them now. It's quite kiddy music; if it came out now I might pretend not to like it, as I'm more into indie music these days.

"But when I was about six I had all the stationery and everything. I saw the Spice World movie for my birthday with a whole gaggle of girls. We were the only ones in the cinema, but we were really excited.

I didn't really think about the whole girl power thing, and I don't think you can read too much into them; they were just fun."

Julia Shute 23, petroleum engineer from London

"I was 12, and I liked them because they were the first real girl band. Girl power was really exciting, especially being at an all girls school.

"It was also because their music was really catchy and fun to dance to, and whenever there was a school talent show or assembly we always used to make up routines. I played Sporty Spice because I was on the gym team, so I could do cartwheels and the splits.

"I still feel empowered by girl power, and I work in a department where I am the only girl. But it's a bit weird that they're reforming - they can't need the money can they? I can't say I will be rushing out to buy their album. I'd rather see the Fratellis these days."

Jordan Cooper 24, teacher from Surrey

"I loved them when I was coming up to my GCSEs, and had all their albums. I even got to dress up as Scary Spice for a school fashion show. They were the first real girl band, and it was cool to have girls on the scene. Girl power was great because it intimidated the boys. I know they wore skimpy clothes but they did do something for feminism on a minor level. They made girls realise they could be independent, and it also meant they hung out more without boys. I don't think any girl band has had the same effect - people went round saying 'girl power' for years at school.

I'm a bit sceptical about them reforming. I wonder if it's not more about the money and I don't think they could have much effect now."