Today, the Boy Scouts of America announced a new program that will allow girls to join their membership and earn the rank of Eagle Scout. The announcement follows discussions at this past summer’s National Annual Meeting where it was revealed the BSA was considering allowing girls to join the Cub Scout program, a revelation that angered the Girl Scouts. (The two organizations are unaffiliated.)
In today’s statement, based on surveys that the BSA say show an extremely high degree of interest, girls will be able to join Cub Scouts beginning a year from now, in fall of 2018. The Cub Scout program is for children in first to fifth grades. These Cub Scout dens (the smaller groups within a larger group, or Pack) will be single gender, according to Scouting and deliver an identical program. Packs may be home to all boy dens, all girl dens, or a combination of both.
The news also goes on to say that the Boy Scouts will create a program for girls only, which will be announced in 2018 and implemented in 2019. This program will use the same curriculum as the Boy Scouts and allow girls to earn the Eagle Scout award.
The BSA has long offered co-ed programming through its Exploring and Venturing programs, as well as its new STEM pilot program.
See also: After 100 Years, Are The Boy Scouts Still Relevant? And 10 Reasons Why Boy Scout Summer Camp Is the Absolute Best.
