Female Leaders on Campouts

First and foremost in this issue is the point that the National
Council of the BSA decided some years ago that women be allowed to be
adult leaders in any capacity. That makes this whole argument moot.
There is absolutely nothing that a unit can use from BSA policy to keep
a woman from being a leader, and attending a campout or other outing
as one.

I _did_ advise privately that this woman would probably be better off
in another unit that appreciated her talents and ability to contribute.
That is only because the first one to break in is going to get most of
the heat, and it's quite likely that after she is in, there would be
retaliation, subtle and otherwise, against her. It's no fun living in
a "war zone".

There was a time in the BSA history, when it was felt that boys could
be molded into young men of character by being exposed to grown men of
character, in a Troop setting. That was also a time when women were
almost exclusivly awarded custody of the children in divorce cases.
"Adult Male Association" was a bigger deal, then.

The failure of this system, however, is mostly the fault of us _men_.
It is quite likely that the BSA would have kept the men-only as leaders
rule if the fathers in some of the "at risk" units had done their fair
share. It is _we_ who are responsible for this, IMHO, for _not_ step-
ping in as leaders when needed. Just as many divorced or seperated
fathers today do everything possible to avoid paying child support or
helping with the care and feeding (mental and spiritual as well as
physical) of the growing child, they(we) avoided being ASMs until BSA
allowed women to be ASMs, then we avoided being the SM until finally
BSA allowed women to be SMs also. It is just one of a number of the
changes that have come to the program over the last 30 years.

I _do_ happen to believe that some of the old ways were better. I also
believe that some were not. I'm not prepared to make a differentiation
as to which was which at this time, especially on an issue as volitile
as this one. ;)

The BSA of the '90s is _not_ the BSA of the '50s. It cannot be. That
is just one more reason why _all_ adult leaders need to get the _proper
training_!

YiS,

Chuck Bramlet, ASM Troop 323,
Firebird District, Grand Canyon Council, Phoenix, Az. Member DNRC
I "used to be" an Antelope! WEM-10-95 mailto:chuckb@aztec.asu.edu
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