Last Wednesday the Boy Scouts of America announced that they will officially start admitting female members into the Scouts in 2018. Come 2019 girls will also be eligible to qualify for the Eagle Scout Award.
Chief Boy Scout Leader, Michael Surbaugh told USA Today that the values of Scouting are important for both young men and women. “We believe it is critical to evolve how our programs meet the needs of families interested in positive and life-long experiences for their children.”
National Public Radio’s Richard Gonzales reported on how the plan works and why the Scouts acted. “The plan is to allow the organization’s smallest units, the Cub Scout Dens, to be either all-boys or all-girls. Cub Scout packs, the larger unit, can also be single-gender or they can choose to go coed.”
Since their original announcement in August of their hope to pursue female involvement in the Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts they have received a variety of backlash.
“I formally request that your organization stay focused on serving the 90 percent of American boys not currently participating in Boy Scouts…and not consider expanding to recruit girls,” Kathy Hopinkah Hannan, the president of the Girl Scouts, wrote in August to Boy Scouts president, Randall Stephenson.
The Boy Scouts framed their decision on convenience for busy families with both parents working along with survey responses conducted online. The surveys were held from April to September 2017 where results found high interest in parents signing up their daughters for programs such as the Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts.
But, what about Girl Scouts?
The president’s son, Donald Trump Jr. also questioned the decision on Twitter tweeting, “Strange, I thought that’s what the Girl Scouts was for???” on October 11th, 2017
But the issue here is that while the Girl Scouts appears to be the obvious alternative, it does not provide the same hands on life skills and experiences as the Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts programs do.
From Scout to First-class, Boy Scouts participate in learning about scouting ideals and must pass requirements in regard to physical fitness tasks, citizenship and personal growth challenges. In higher rankings Boy Scouts develop leadership skills and participate in community service. Boy Scouts are awarded their ranking based upon completion of these tasks and must appear before a board for review where six officials with decide whether they may advance or not.
This teaches that you must work towards a goal in order to earn recognition for achieving it as well as shows the importance of independent successes.
In comparison, Girl Scouts are awarded levels based on age and merit badges. For example, “Brownies” is for grades 2-3 and “Juniors” is grades 4-5. Merit badges are awarded upon completion of tasks, many associated traditionally with feminine skills, like “babysitting” or “dinner party.”
The Los Angeles Times reported in July, “Girl Scouts offers merit badges for making friends, painting and horseback riding. Up next: cybersecurity.” The LA Times went on to explain that it is a big change in science related badges like “electrician,” “health,” and “naturalist.”
According to the Girl Scouts website, kindergarten through fifth grade Girl Scouts can earn badges, hike and camp, join a troop and participate in the cookie program. From sixth grade onwards they can explore “careers in science and technology, travel the word, discover nature and take on projects that transform their community.”
Despite the opportunities available within Girl Scouts, for several years girls and their families have fought to have the opportunity to join Boy Scouts where they can participate in hands-on real world activities opposed to the classroom settings of Girl Scouts.
When I first heard about this, my initial thought was that there was a place for boys and girls respectively in their own programs. But, after further research into the two, it’s clear that they share more differences than similarities in their curriculum styles.
The plan for the induction of girls into the Boy Scouts is that they would still be separated from the boys in their own troops, packs and dens based on direction. I believe the idea behind this is related to the studies that show that girls in coed groups are less likely to raise their hands and are more likely to feel self-conscious.
While it may seem that letting girls into the Boy Scouts just to keep them in separate troops defeats the purpose of the integration, girls would finally have access to the same activities as the boys without the intimidation of them actually being there. I can definitely speak to this, having always felt awkward in grade school gym class when the boys were there, too. I think often girls are overwhelmed by what the boys may think, or that they will get hurt physically in strength exercises, that they opt out or don’t try their hardest.
The Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts were created so long ago, 1910 and 1912 to be exact, that they are involuntarily supporting long gone gender stereotypes through that separation. For example, the boys get to go out camping where they will learn to build a fire, set up a tent, shoot a bow and arrow and fish while the girls stay in the classroom back home learning about womanly household duties.
While some activities are the same, like the selling of cookies for Girl Scouts and popcorn for Boy Scouts, girls are missing out on the hands on, endurance and strength based experiences that are normalized for the boys to participate in.
If girls want to join they should be able to, but the genders should still be separate within the whole program in order to give equal opportunity for all those involved.
