Lines of gender blur in Boy Scouts, Cub Scouts

By JUDD WILSON

Staff writer

COEUR d’ALENE — The October 2017 decision by Boy Scouts of America to introduce girls into the organization is consistent with the organization’s values, said Boy Scouts Inland Northwest Council CEO Karen Meier on Thursday.

“Our foundation of what the Boy Scouts brand has been built upon is still the same, absolutely still the same,” she said.

The Boy Scouts’ mission statement is not gender-specific, Meier said.

The Girl Scouts’ opposition to the change is based on research showing the benefit of girls belonging to an all-female organization, said Girl Scouts of Eastern Washington and Northern Idaho spokesman Nicole Wood on Tuesday.

“We feel that it is important that we remain all girls, and if you are a girl, you’re going to have the best experience with the Girl Scouts.”

However, Wood clarified that the Girl Scouts is open to anyone who identifies as a girl, including biological males.

“If you identify as a girl on any spectrum of sexual fluidity, we want you in Girl Scouts,” she said.

Wood said the Girl Scouts’ history has prepared it to be the best safe space for girls looking to grow into leadership roles. It’s an organization where girls can talk about the things they don’t want to talk about around boys, and where boys won’t be preferred over them, she said.

In January, the Boy Scouts Inland Northwest Council started taking applications for girls in Cub Scouts, and 21 girls now belong to the Cub Scouts pack at Pinehurst Elementary School. As of last month, 1,006 youths were taking part in Boy Scouts programs in Kootenai County, with 92 more in Shoshone County and 27 in Benewah County. Of those 1,006 in Kootenai County, 493 are Boy Scouts and 492 are Cub Scouts.

“We anticipate that there will be additional girls joining the Cub Scout packs this fall,” Meier said.

The Cub Scouts nationwide will include girls by fall 2018, with plans for girls to enter Boy Scouts troops in February 2019. According to Meier, the Inland Northwest Council voted in December 2017 to become an early adopter of the new co-ed program because it was convenient for parents.

“We already knew there were siblings of families who were tag-alongs doing all the activities,” she said.

Like national Girl Scouts leadership has argued since the Boy Scouts announced their historic decision last fall, Wood countered that merely allowing girls into the Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts out of convenience is a disservice to girls.

“They don’t have the programming or the research to show how girls learn best. How does that benefit girls, if they’re still an afterthought?” Wood asked.

During 2017, 375 girls and 187 adults in Kootenai County took part in the Girl Scouts, with slight growth in Post Falls last year and steady numbers in Coeur d’Alene, Rathdrum, Spirit Lake, and Athol, Wood said.

The single-gender environment is best for young people, said Wood, which is why the Girl Scouts is a better program for young girls. Boys would also do better in an all-male Boy Scouts, she added.

Cub Scouts include kids from 7 to 10 years old, who are organized into groups called dens, which in turn, comprise a pack. Meier said the organizations such as churches, civic organizations, and schools that charter Cub Scout packs get to decide whether to have a mix of girls’ dens and boys’ dens in their packs, or to limit a pack to only boys’ dens or only girls’ dens. Either way, said Meier, at the den level both the boys and girls participating in Cub Scouts will do their activities only with other kids of the same gender.

“How they carry out the program will always be separated because research shows that girls and boys need to be separated until 14 years of age so they can develop in their own pace.”

Boy Scouts of America has included girls in some programs for years now, said Meier. Six Kootenai County girls participate in the co-ed Explorer program at the Coeur d’Alene Police Department, and eight more girls are part of Sea Scouts Ship 8611 at Camp Easton in Harrison.

Boy Scouts is for kids from 11 to 17 years old who make up troops. Girls and boys will belong to single-gender troops, explained Meier. She also said when girls enter Boy Scout troops in February 2019, the girls will not be called Boy Scouts. Neither will they be called Girl Scouts, for trademark reasons. She didn’t know what they would be called, but speculated that in May when Boy Scouts national leadership unveils its title for girls who participate in the Boy Scouts, the title of boys in the organization may also change so both boys and girls share the same, new title.

Regardless of what the Boy Scouts do, the Girl Scouts will “keep doing what we’ve been doing for 106 years,” Wood said.

“I support the Boy Scouts doing whatever they think they need to open it up to boys and girls. I’m glad they’re making progress in allowing gay members and leaders. I think those are way overdue. I still would argue that girls and parents need to look at all the facts and find the best program for their girls.”