5 girls from Santa Rosa, California recently decided that they wanted to be boy scouts. The girls presented their boy scout applications to a panel of boy scout leaders. Their main reasoning for wanting to join the boy scouts was their interest in the outdoor/life skill building aspects of the program. The girls also created their own troop named "the unicorns" and placed second in a major scouting competition called camporee. It is still uncertain whether these girls will actually be able to join the scouts.
When I first stumbled across this article, I was intrigued as to why these girls were interested in joining boy scouts. I feel like boy scouts and girl scouts have several similar aspects in their programs, with their only major difference being the separation of sexes. I found it understandable that the girls were interested in the more outdoor/life skill side of boy scouts, which seems to be more prevelant in their frequent campouts and activities. Especially with the recent movements towards equality, I'm not sure how long we will have scouting separated by sexes. If these girls are permitted to join, it will be a huge deal. This is relevant to US history because it is similar to the abolitionists who wanted to have freedom for the slaves or the woman's rights activists who persistantly fought for equality amongst men.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/23/us/girls-in-california-are-latest-to-seek-to-become-boy-scouts.html?ref=us
It seems that the results of this endeavor will be very interesting to see, considering the peculiar nature of the inquiry... although it is the "'Boy Scouts' of America", it certainly would be interesting to have girls in the organization as well.
ReplyDelete-Jack Higgins period 6
I think the separation of sexes is ok in an extra curricular setting, because young girls benefit from one another and have more in common than they do with other age groups or boys their age. I'm definitely not against girls joining boy scouts or vice versa. I think a way to combine the bond that girls make with each other and activities they want to do is to not label certain things as "boyish activities" or "girly activities". For example, hiking is not just for boys and sewing/decorating pillowcases is not just for girls!
ReplyDeleteMaddie Hanratty