Now girls can join boy scouts

FORT LAUDERDALE: In a historic shift, the Boy Scouts of America will let girls enroll in Cub Scouts starting next year and allow them to eventually earn the highest rank of Eagle Scout through a separate programme, the organisation said.

The unanimous decision by t he 100-year-old group’s board of directors came after years of requests from families and girls, it said, though the announcement prompted a mostly negative reaction on social media.

“We believe it is critical to evolve how our programmes meet the needs of families interested in positive and lifelong experiences for their children,” Boy Scouts Chief Executive Michael Surbaugh said in a statement.

Beginning next year, families will be able to enroll their sons and daughters in Cub Scout programmes. Existing packs, or community-level units, can decide to establish new girl packs or co-ed packs. They can also remain exclusive to boys.

The organisation will announce a separate programme for older girls using the same curriculum as the Boy Scouts programme that will allow them to earn the Eagle Scout rank, the highest achievement in the Boy Scouts of America (BSA).

By 2019, some girls will be able to reach the organisation’s highest rank of Eagle Scout, the BSA said.

Cub Scouts range in age from seven to 10, and Boy Scout members can be as young as 10 if they have finished the fifth grade. There are programmes to allow Boy Scouts to remain until they are 20 years old.

“This unique approach allows the organisation to maintain the integrity of the single gender model while also meeting the needs of today’s families,” the BSA said in a statement.

Kathy Hopinkah Hannan, president of the Girl Scouts of the USA, in an August letter to Boy Scouts President Randall Stephenson accused the BSA of a “covert campaign” to recruit girls amid “well documented” declining membership, the Washington Post reported.

On social media, hundreds of people were critical of the news, with many people echoing the sentiments of Donald Trump Jr, the president’s son.

“Strange, I thought that’s what the Girl Scouts was for???” he said on Twitter.

In January, the Boy Scouts decided to allow transgender boys to join and welcomed its first, a nine-year-old from New Jersey, the next month.