Woman who opened doors to women in Boy Scout leadership dies

[fgoodwin]

Woman who opened doors to women in Boy Scout leadership dies

 

http://www.boston.com/news/local/connecticut/articles/2006/12/14/woman_who_opened_doors_to_women_in_boy_scout_leadership_dies/

http://tinyurl.com/v39uf

 

December 14, 2006

 

MILFORD, Conn. -- A woman whose 14-year legal battle helped open the doors for women to become scoutmasters and other leaders within the Boy Scouts of America has died.

 

Catharine Pollard died Wednesday at the age of 88.

 

Pollard's battle with the organization began after her application for a leadership position was denied by the Boy Scouts in 1974 and 1976.

 

She was rejected by the scouts even though she had run a Milford troop from 1973 to 1975 when no men volunteered. The Boy Scouts contended that a woman was not a good role model for young boys enrolled in scouting.

 

Pollard successfully challenged the action before the state Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities, but that ruling was later reversed in state courts.

 

The state Supreme Court in July 1987 upheld a lower-court ruling that boys need the guidance of men "in the difficult process of maturing to adulthood."

 

But in February 1988 the national Boy Scouts of America did away with all gender restrictions on volunteer positions, abandoning its 78-year-old policy that banned women from six leadership roles.

 

At the time of the 1988 change, Pollard had praise for the Boy Scouts leadership.

 

"I think that it is a great thing that happened and I think it's about time, after trying hard for 14 years, to get this stupid situation straightened out," Pollard said.

 

"I do think that this is marvelous because there have been women all over the United States, in fact all over the world, that have been doing these things for the Boy Scouts because they could not get a male leader but we could not get recognition for the things we've done," she said.

 

Pollard, who was 69 at the time, officially became Milford's first female Scoutmaster in 1988.

[Trevorum]

Thank you Fred for posting this.

 

I was not previously aware of Ms. Pollard's battle for justice but I will now tell her story along with those of Judith Livers, Rosa Parks, Anna Mae Hays, and Jackie Robinson.

[fgoodwin]

Its worth noting that BSA won the court battle, yet voluntarily agreed to admit female Scoutmasters (the article doesn't mention den mothers, which had been a fixture in Cub Scouts for some time).