As of 2019, The Boy Scouts of America will allow girls to enter certain programs, in order to obtain the greatest honor of Eagle Scout. This is a huge step for the organization, as no other current program allows girls to become Eagle Scouts. There are currently four programs that girls can be a part of, but none of them allow them to earn the Eagle Scout label.
Why is Eagle Scout such a big deal? Well, some girls like Sydney Ireland feel that girls should be able to enter any program that they wish to, that it doesn’t matter if they are girls. The Eagle Scout rank is also the highest honor that a scout can achieve, and is a rigorous program that takes years to accomplish. Only about 2% of enrolled cub scouts earn the award, and can even get you college scholarships.
The Girl Scouts do have the Gold Award, but it doesn’t always earn the same prestige as Eagle Scout. Ireland also believes that Girl Scouts wasn’t the right fit for her. The Girl Scouts are a completely different organization and is not intended to be an alternative to Boy Scouts of America.
The programs that already allow girls are conducted under single gender “dens,” the local meetings and programs that Boy Scouts sponsors. The new Eagle Scout programs will also be conducted in this way, and will not be co-ed.
This move is one of the many steps the organization has taken in the recent past to make the Boy Scouts more open. They have opened their doors to transgender boys, and in 2015, they lifted the ban on gay men leading the dens. The fight to include girls and other minorities has been long-running, and the Boy Scouts want to make their organization a better place for everyone and are taking the necessary measures to achieve this goal. For this, the organization deserves credit for working towards change.
