Last fall, The Boy Scouts of America made a pretty big change: the boys club would open its doors to girls.
On the surface, this seemed like a progressive and inclusive step forward for the historically and outwardly conservative group. The organization, did afterall, make the announcement on Oct. 11, International Day of the Girl.
The news drew all kinds of feedback. Some saw the change of organization as a larger step toward inclusivity. Others saw it as feminism seeping into a place it really shouldn’t.
No matter the reason, the change, more than anything, was simply a business strategy — a boost for the organization’s public image.
In early May, The Boy Scouts of America announced it would become Scouts BSA by February 2019, stripping the word “boy” from it’s title just enough to seemingly include young female scouts.
The organization wrote it aims “to offer families an important additional choice in meeting the character development needs of all their children.”
By allowing females into the group, BSA won’t be giving them the key to all things Boy Scouts. Instead, female members will be part of a separate wing of the organization, keeping things very obviously separate.
While that may outwardly be the BSA’s goal, it dips into the Girl Scouts pool of possible members. This new plan to include females is dressed as progressive ideals, when it really just limits the female dominated spaces young women need most.
It’s not just programs for young women where this mindset plays out. Many companies aim to source work from predominantly female-run businesses. These simply provide a way to level the playing field and encourage the collective work of women.
In the Elle Magazine article “The Rise of Female-Only Spaces,” the principle of an women-only school in England noted the ability for female voices to be heard, unlike in other schools.
Carol Black, the principal of Newham College at University of Cambridge explains “students can develop their self-confidence, resilience and ability to take risks in a space where they see women in every conceivable leadership role.”
I was never part of a scout program. But, it didn’t matter the program, as long as I had a place, predominantly held by females to call my own.
The 16 years of dance classes I took growing up placed me among a diverse group of females of all ages. I grew up with those women and looked up to many of them.
I didn’t sell cookies or gain badges, I learned and developed skills in other capacities, thanks to the leadership of other females.
My childhood would most definitely been a different experience had I been part of a co-ed dance group.
Women need other women. Women need spaces specifically designed for women to grow and learn together.
It would be wonderful if young children could all just sell their cookies and earn their badges in one big, happy organization. But, it’s not the children we should worry about. It’s the “grown ups” that run their organizations, and the “grown ups” those children will one day become.
It is not progressive to undermine spaces meant for young women. Maybe the change in the structure of the organization is admirable in some ways, but it does less than empower the women it intends to engage.
Hailey Stewart can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter at @Hailey_Ann97