I grew up in scouting, carrying on the tradition that Lord Baden-Powell started in 1907, starting in Cub Scouts and working my way up to the rank of Eagle Scout. Boy Scouts of America is an important part of American culture and has aided the growth and development of young men for over a century. This long standing tradition is about to experience a major change, one that will change the BSA forever. It will begin to admit girls.
BSA has launched their new “Scout Me In” program in an effort to promote their new inclusivity. Girls can join Cub Scouts currently, and will be eligible to join the Boy Scouts of America (who will be changing their name to Scouts BSA) in February 2019. More than 3,000 girls have already enrolled in the early adopter program which looks to be a promising start to the big integrated launch coming later this year.
Including young women in scouting is not uncommon internationally. The United States was actually one of only 14 countries’ scouting programs that weren’t coed. This is out of the 169 members listed here.
This change will shake both the Boy and Girl Scout programs, who are not joining forces, but are now in competition. The Girl Scouts will be launching a new campaign soon to stop from losing more members. The Girl Scouts have had issues recently maintaining High School participants, and will find it difficult to convince members that their highest ranking award, the Gold Award, is as prestigious as the BSA’s Eagle Scout Award which will be available to girls in 2019. Their main pitch will likely be their female empowering curriculum including STEM and entrepreneurship related programs.
BSA has lost over 300,000 members in the past five years, undoubtedly combating the digital age and youths that are faced with more and more demanding schedules in and out of school. With the largest numbers reaching over 4 million at their peak, it has been a tough fall. BSA’s decision to include young women was likely an easier one than its long standing controversy over including gay members, which was more an issue with the churches that often hosted local troops. Hopefully the media coverage that this evolution is producing can improve numbers in both organizations. The best chance for survival for scouting in the future isn’t to poach from other organizations, but rather for scouting to grow as a whole.
