I agree, “embers” are smouldering remains!
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We’re all different… and, of course, it all depends on the Leaders/Trainers and how they put stuff across…
It should be fun for kids and adults alike… we all get so much more out of life in general… if we are enjoying ourselves (well, that’s my opinion…)
You wouldn’t want to talk about beavers and girls at the same time, now would you? That’s DEFINITELY gender-ist. 
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I’ve enjoyed myself alright Stella! But not by knitting!
I never have been able to knit… I’m cackhanded… all my female relations are gifted, but not me…
that’s probably why I took myself in Cub Scouting… I’m better with a box of matches than with knitting needles…
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That’s another thing, when did they change from Wolf Cubs, which I was before I became a Scout, a Boy one, just to emphasise the difference? 
They’re a dangerous bunch these brownies (our one is the one on the left who’s nicked the Captain’s hat). )
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My Dad was a Wolf Cub 1920’s in London … my OH was a Wolf Cub1950’s
By 1980’s when I volunteered to help… it was Beavers/ Cubs/ Scouts on the East Coast where I lived… and they were all boys… the girly thing hadn’t arrived at that time …
Akela was so relieved to finally have some “help” that she retired a few months after I joined… (dropped me right in it…) but I became “Akela/Mum” to some lovely youngsters… many of whom were from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Me too, but I must have moved up to the Scouts before age 11 though as at that time I went away to boarding school, where I also joined the school troop. In my final year, I left the Scouts but the Rugby/Physics/House/Scout Master (he was a busy bloke) proposed a trip in his pick up truck to the Arctic Circle and he had only 5 of the required 6 passengers signed up. I was really keen to go (partly because I had a beautiful Norwegian penfriend who I longed to meet 
) so was reinstated for the duration. Well worth it too. 
I can see that “Brownies” could be offensive, I thought it was a nickname anyway based on the uniform colour.
But “embers” FFS could they not have come up with a better name, “young guides” perhaps? Or just merge with the scouting movement and get rid of a separate female-only organisation altogether.
Interestingly almost all the faces on the “Brownies” page on the UK website are, er, girls of colour.
Must say, Brownies never meant Brown People… not in my day… Brownies were helpful little folk… a bit like “the house elf”
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My grandad on my dad’s side was a ‘bit of a lad’, a philanderer and a general waste of space but his one claim to fame was his involvement with Baden Powell in the scout movement. He was one of BPs collègues helping set up the movement in East Anglia. His wedding day photo shows him wearing the scouts uniform.
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Exactly this - nothing to do with a race of humans.
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It was my grand fathers surname so I am linked to the paramilitary movement all the way back.
I’m not sure why the younger troops of Girl Guides were called Brownies but I now understand that they have selected by members’ vote the name Embers, signifying “potential that’s just waiting to be unleashed”. Crickey!
The other name offered was Cornets. I can see no end of problems down the line if they had selected that.
Perhaps old girls will be renamed Ashes.
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“Lord Baden-Powell was familiar with the folk tales about helpful, magical “little people” called Brownies. They did good deeds in secret, and Baden-Powell thought that “Brownies” would be a fitting name for young girls who could learn to help their families and communities.”
lovely idea… nowt wrong with that… in my view… but, who knows… folk get funny ideas as time goes by…
I’m off to cook supper… the kitchen is my haven of sanity…
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‘Umber’, or by way of compromise perhaps’ burnt umber’ - both are artists’ pigments.
Apropos b***n inorganic pigments, did you know that the English artists’ colour, Venetian red is rosso inglese in Italian?
Both seem comparatively safe from change at the moment…
Remind me never to annoy Stella 
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In that case not sure they have understood the word - since “embers” normally applies to the state of a fire as it’s dying. 
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The Girl Guides of Canada has renamed its Brownies branch after current and former members said the name caused them harm and prevented or delayed their decision to join.
If people truly find it difficult, and it encourages greater participation, then I don’t see the harm. It’s nice to be nice.