As Boy Scouts seek to include girls, Girl Scouts see a turf fight
Around the time of World War I, two organizations set out to mold young Americans into resourceful and virtuous future leaders, instilling in them the admirable traits of citizenship, loyalty and courage. Members of both groups wore uniforms, explored the wilderness and swore to uphold their values.
There was one major difference: The Boy Scouts admitted young men, and the Girl Scouts let in young women — a fundamental distinction still largely true a century later.
But in a blistering letter this week, the president of Girl Scouts of the USA accused Boy Scouts of America of trying to undercut the organization through a “covert campaign to recruit girls.” The letter became public Tuesday, laying bare an exceptional and surprising fissure in what had been an amicable relationship between two ubiquitous organizations.
“I formally request that your organization stay focused on serving the 90 percent of American boys not currently participating in Boy Scouts,” Kathy Hopinkah Hannan, president of the Girl Scouts, wrote to her counterpart, Randall Stephenson of the Boy Scouts.
Hopinkah Hannan added, “It is therefore unsettling that BSA would seek to upend a paradigm that has served both boys and girls so well through the years.”
The letter came after a tense phone conversation last week between executives of both organizations, including Stephenson and Hopinkah Hannan, about possible substantial changes at the Boy Scouts. Since last spring, the Boy Scouts have sought input from their members and 270 councils nationwide about how the organization could serve more girls.
How far the Boy Scouts expand into programming for girls has yet to be determined. Options include creating a girls-only program in the same mold as the Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts, or partnering with a group like the Girl Scouts.
The Boy Scouts and the Girl Scouts each have millions of participants. But they have been buffeted by societal changes affecting youth organizations, leading to membership declines and forcing them to find new ways to attract members. The Boy Scouts have also had their own challenges and only recently started accepting gay scout leaders and transgender scouts after heavy criticism.
Effie Delimarkos, a spokeswoman for the Boy Scouts, said families had increasingly asked the Boy Scouts for options for girls. The phone call last week was set up to discuss ways the two groups could work together toward that goal, she said.
“How do we essentially listen to the families that have been bringing their daughters along with their sons to pack meetings?” Delimarkos said in an interview Wednesday night.
Hopinkah Hannan had a different interpretation of the phone call, according to her letter. She believed the Boy Scouts had already decided to encroach on the Girl Scouts’ territory.
The Girl Scouts said the group was committed to “working out these issues in a mutually satisfactory manner.”
“Girl Scouts made numerous attempts to engage BSA in an open and transparent dialogue about their intentions, and have always been more than willing to work with BSA to determine how best to serve today’s youth,” the organization said in a statement Tuesday night.
The scouting groups, both inspired by the Boy Scouts Association in England, started in the United States in the early 20th century. Their memberships quickly blossomed, and troops popped up in towns nationwide, attracting young boys and girls seeking adventure and service.
In recent decades, the Boy Scouts opened up some programs, such as Venturing, which is for men and women 14 through 21. The demand for girls’ programming, particularly for young girls, has only grown in recent years, said Delimarkos, the Boy Scouts’ spokeswoman.
She said that Boy Scouts executives had reached out to the Girl Scouts since the letter was sent and hope to set up another meeting to smooth over concerns.
“There is an opportunity for both of us to do more,” she said.