What Is The Cost Of Boys Life For A Registered Scout

On Wednesday, the Boy Scouts of America announced plans to open up some programs to girls. Reasons for the switch included its programs would benefit girls every bit well every bit boys, and life would exist easier for parents if they merely had to drive to one scouting destination rather than two.

Boy Scouts salute

Members of the Male child Scouts salute during the raising of the flag on May 25, 2009 in Hudson, Wis. during Memorial Day ceremonies. | Karen Bleier/AFP/Getty Images

While some parents were of the opinion that integrating male child and girl scouts was a practical and positive move, Daughter Lookout leaders criticized the conclusion, stating that girls flourish in all-female groups.

"Blindsided" was how Lisa Margosian said the Girl Scouts organization felt virtually the Boy Scouts' announcement. "We've had 105 years of supporting girls and a girl-only rubber space," said Margosian, primary customer officer for the Daughter Scouts.

"And so much of a girl'due south life is a life where she is in a coed environment, and nosotros accept and then much inquiry and data that suggests that girls really thrive in an environment where they can experiment, accept chance and stretch themselves in the company of other girls," Margosian said.

In August, a letter from the Girl Scouts was made public in which the organization's president, Kathy Hopinkah Hannan, defendant the Male child Scouts of a "covert entrada to recruit girls."

"I formally request that your organization stay focused on serving the 90 pct of American boys not currently participating in Boy Scouts," Hopinkah Hannan wrote to Boy Scouts president Randall Stephenson.

Three Girl Scouts

Three Daughter Scouts in a give-and-take getting gear up to leave for summer camp. | Getty Images

Hopinkah Hannan's letter went on to call the Male child Scouts organisation "reckless" for "thinking that running a program specifically tailored to boys can simply exist translated to girls."

The Girl Scouts released a statement Midweek in response to the Boy Scouts' announcement. It reads, "At Daughter Scouts, we are the girl experts, and for more a century we have provided millions of girls opportunities for chance, inspiration, and valuable mentoring. The benefit of the single-gender surround has been well-documented by educators, scholars, other girl- and youth-serving organizations, and Girl Scouts and their families. Girl Scouts offers a one-of-a-kind experience for girls with a program tailored specifically to their unique developmental needs."

The Girl Scouts arrangement, founded in 1912, is fabricated upwards of 1.viii million girls and 800,000 adults. The Boy Scouts organization, founded in 1910, is comprised of 2.7 million boys and 950,000 adults. Membership numbers have been declining for both organizations.

In 2015, total Daughter Scout membership was down more than 15% over three years and downward xxx% from a peak membership of more than 3.eight million in 2003, co-ordinate to The Associated Press. It was reported that Boy Scout membership fell 7.iv% in 2014, as part of a decade-long decline in numbers.

Equally Girl Sentinel membership has declined, the organization has worked to keep upward with the times in the selling of Girl Scout Cookies by creating a mobile app for selling the cookies.

Both organizations have added programs and badges to help boost participation. For the boys, this means more engineering science-based programs and "high risk" ones such every bit mountain-climbing, skateboarding, and kayaking. For the girls, new STEM-related programs have been added which involve scientific reasoning.