The role of Women in Scouting...then and now

[kb6jra]

From a post in another thread, I see there is still a faction within Scouting that thinks that Women have no place beyond the role of Den Mother, or maybe as high up on the Scouting food chain as Committee Member.

 

Here''s my experience and where I''m at on this subject, I''d be interested in yours as well.

 

I''m probably from the old school. My father was a Scoutmaster, and being the envious son, I followed in his footsteps. Perhaps too closely as it turns out. When I was a scout, women were relegated to Cub Den Mothers, Troop Womens Auxiliary members, and those that made the food for the quarterly Courts of Honor pot lucks for the troop. In my mind this was the way of things and I carried that with me for a long time. I was somewhat scandalized when my troop committee installed it''s first female Committee Chairman.

 

Fast Forward to the present. I attended Wood Badge in 2003. I was pretty sure I had an edge, because I''ve been there, done that; Eagle Scout, held all positions, taken tons of training early and had a stint as a Scoutmaster at age 21 for 4 years... I showed up and found out there were 2 women in my patrol. I was not a happy camper at first, why would they put me, an obvious first stringer, in with these "den mothers". Boy did I have a lot to learn.

 

Those two women turned out to be quite a force for change in my life. I came to realize that women had more to offer our program than I was originally willing to admit. In the end they became invaluable to our patrol, and to my Wood Badge experience. I have since met Women Cubmasters, Scoutmasters and Advisors that run fantastic programs and have successful packs, troops and crews, units I would be proud to be a part of anytime. Their biggest roadblocks, as I see them, are the ones men put up in front of them. The fact that they can surmount them at all speaks volumes to their abilities to persevere and stay the course IMHO.

 

I have several women as ASMs in my troop, past and present. I have one patrol that is very active with only 1 father available to help out. He''s a fire captain and makes maybe 1 meeting a month and 1 outing a quarter as his schedule allows. What I have are mostly single moms. These women took it upon themselves to get trained and step up as ASM patrol advisors. They do a great job and have been taking on more and more responsibility within the troop. I couldn''t do the job without them, at least not as well as it''s getting done now.

 

 

 

 

 

[eisely]

I think your last paragraph, perhaps unknowingly, identifies the reason women have taken on more different roles in scouting. Where are the men? If men were stepping up to the needs in greater numbers along with the women we would all be better off. I have observed the hostile attitude towards female leaders other than den leaders from time to time, even from moms of boys in various troops. Unfair and unwise.

 

I remember a controversy over ten years ago in Southern California. There was a small troop with all female adult leadership in one of the towns near Santa Barbara. These were largely single moms stepping in to provide a scouting program for their sons. They had to sue the council to get to go to summer camp. The council refused them because the camp had no facilities for women (lame excuse). The adverse publicity alone was enough to turn the situation around.

[Aquila]

When there are capable men available, women ought to act in a support capacity. Notice the "when". Best case scenario is older men mentoring younger men. No matter how wonderful the woman, she cannot teach a boy to be a man.

 

That doesn''t mean they have no role in the troop. We have MBCs, committee members, and support chairwomen who do a fine job. But the day our Troop appoints a woman in leadership authority over my young men is the day we go elsewhere. They are not little boys any more. Most American boys have plenty of strong women in their lives; it is the strong male influence that is often lacking.

 

[GernBlansten]

So women should be viewed as second stringers, bench warmers?

[Eagledad]

>>So women should be viewed as second stringers, bench warmers?

[ScoutNut]

Maybe I missed something in the myriad pieces of BSA literature. Could someone point me to where it states that the purpose of the BSA is to "teach boys to be men"?

 

 

[FScouter]

"teach boys to be men"

That would be part of personal growth.

 

Boys grow into men. Girls grow into women. They are different beasts. God set this up in His plan. Dispense with political correctness; there''s no place for it in raising children. Men simply can do a better job teaching boys to become men. It''s the nature of our species.

[John-in-KC]

If the candidate is qualified, then gender should not be an issue.

 

Please though, do not inflict unqualified folk (regardless of gender) on our Scouts.

[scoutingagain]

I''ll admit my preference would be to have qualified men provide male role models for scouts. Having said that, women should be able to hold any office and serve in any capacity for which they are qualified. Those units that arbitrarily limit certain positions by gender, are most likely not making the best available leadership to their youth members.

 

In fact I would argue to prepare today''s male youth to be better citizens, they had better be prepared to deal with women in authority. Given the current male to female ratio in our colleges and universities most are likely have a female boss at some point in their careers or deal women in decision making positions in just about any field they go into.

 

 

 

SA

[CrewMomma]

The problem I have with the "women can''t teach boys to be men" is that there are some men out there that have no business being a role model to these boys just because they have the necessary "equipment".

 

I have one single mom that really wants to support her son and be active in his scouting career. She has the necessary skills to contribute to any camp out and activity. I have one father who 1) cusses around the kids all the time 2) hassles them constantly and gives them a hard time and guilt trip when he doesn''t think they are "working hard enough". They worst part is, he is allowed to go on camp outs and she is not.

 

When do we start looking at leaders actual qualifications to guide these boys and leave behind the attitude of "only men can teach boys how to be a man" ?

 

I just got back from Woodbadge where our Course Director was the first female course director in our council. I don''t think anyone suffered on the course because of it.

 

 

 

[Pack212Scouter]

Our Pack, District, and Council has numberous women in various positions, doing excellent jobs. We had a women as District Exec. Women serve in our Pack as Commitee Chairs, Awards Chairs, Training Coordinators, Den Leaders, Etc. That said, we try to have at least one male Den Leader in each Den and male Asstant Cubmasters and Cubmaster. The reason is that boys need good male role models, today more than ever. Does this mean all men are better qualified than women, no. Does it mean that all men should be placed into these roles, no. But this does not change the fact that a good male role model is most beneficial, especially in a society where more and more often, that male role model does not exist.

[Ohio_Scouter]

CrewMomma,

 

Why is single mom not allowed on campouts with her son?

[CrewMomma]

It was put to a vote and decided that Moms were too much of a distraction to the boys and it changed the dynamic of the camp outs too much. I believe it was the original intent was to stop the "hovering Mom" syndrome but in this case, there is no "hovering mom", just a highly motivated and highly skilled parent wanting to take part in their son''s life. Being a Venturing Crew Associate Adviser, I am just floored by the reasoning considering that all of the camp outs my crew goes on has split male-female leadership without the youth suffering!!!

[Ohio_Scouter]

Yeah, it doesn''t make much sense for a Venturing Crew which is coed to begin with. Are there no other crews or troops in the area with different policies?

[CrewMomma]

Lots of Troops in the area that would welcome the help.

 

The problem is that the little boy really likes the kids in his troop and his mom doesn''t want to pull him out and have to have him start making new friends all over again.

 

The SM is actually with her on this point, it''s the committee that is voting and changing the bylaws on this one.