Re: Female Eagle Scouts?

Henry Kramer <bear@VOICENET.COM> asked:

>At our last Troop Committee meeting one parent asked if a female
>could become an Eagle Scout? Since girls can join Explorer Posts
>and Explorers can advance in rank, is there anything prohibiting a
>girl from advancing to the rank of Eagle? If not, have there been
>any female Eagle Scouts?

There has never been ANY female Eagle Scouts.

Female youth cannot become Eagle Scouts, Henry. The reason why:

The Boy Scout advancement program has been restricted to registered
Boy and Varsity Scouts only. This is to preclude any *female*
Explorers (or now Venturers) from advancing toward Eagle. Male
Explorers can continue to work toward Eagle until a certain time
(see my note at the end of this posting).

The Boy Scout advancement program depends heavily upon the earning
of several merit badges, which again has been restricted to WEARING
and RECEIVING by male Boy Scouts, Varsity Scouts, and Explorers
(now Venturers). Females MAY work toward and "earn" merit badges,
but no advancement report is sent to the local Council in those
cases so technically, no merit badges may be awarded to females.

What some Explorer Posts and Ships HAVE done (and I'm one of the
Advisors and Skippers that have done so) is to present a
specially-made certificate with the merit badge attached to female
Explorers that have met the requirements for the merit badge. We
also filed an advancement report but did NOT send it to the local
Council (in other words, we kept it for OUR records) and provided
the youth with the "national Council" copy of the report (the top
sheet of the three-part form) for her personal records. We've done
this, because frankly, I've had some females that have out-cooked,
out-hiked, out-camped and out-pioneered our male youth within the
Post or Ship. Even though the BSA officially says that they cannot
WEAR the merit badge there's nothing that prohibits us from
recognizing them for their work alongside the males.

This, of course, has met up with some confrontation from those that
wishes that "Girls work on Girl Scouting advancement", and we've
had two Cadettes that did just that. But they also met the Post's
(the BSA's) requirements for earning the Hiking, Communications,
Citizenship in the Community, Nation and World, Camping, Cooking
and Rifle and Shotgun Shooting merit badges....and we've given them
nice 8x11 certificates (I think there's a couple sitting around in
the file drawers...I'll have to pull one, scan it and post it on my
website this weekend!) which recognizes their *personal
achievement*.

There's a second reason why several Advisors and Skippers do this,
and it's why *I* did it: equality when it comes to advancement that
Explorers CAN acheive. Explorers have had the Exploring
Achievement Award, which as part of the requirements, calls for an
Explorer to do personal growth projects and training. In an
"Scouting service" post like mine (and before that, in an outdoor
Post), we have a lot of Explorers that will put on training
sessions and teach the basics of camping, cooking, or being in the
outdoors. We don't distinguish between the stuff that the "girls
get to participate or watch" and what the "boys get to participate
and watch". And because we invited local Troops and the other
Explorer post to also participate, it made sense to have *one
standard* (even if that standard is tilted somewhat to the male
end). So when our Explorers go before their peer review board as
they work toward the Explorer Acheivement Award, they can talk
about earning the Hiking merit badge (something that those outside
the Post but within Scouting can understand).

(We had a peer review board during finals week of each semester for
those five individuals working toward the EAA...they met on their
own with an Advisor or committeemember present and just ask those
candidates about their progress. It isn't binding, those that
choose not to participate don't get "dinged" for not attending, but
those that do participate get signed off for a Post activity)

We had several of our Post and Ship members to earn the Scout
Lifeguard badge (which required some merit badge work) and in
addition to getting the Lifeguard badge to wear, they also get the
"merit badge certificates" as well for Swimming and Lifesaving (if
they met the requirements). We used the same merit badge
counsellors that the Boy Scouts used and some of our advisors also
served as merit badge counsellors for the District.

Note that the males get the pocket sized card and the female gets
the 8x11 certificate (I've had some males to ask or write me for a
8x11 certificate because they looked nice, even for paper!)

The new Venturing Bronze, Gold and Silver Awards and the Ranger
Award will incorporate a lot of merit badge work within it, even
though it *may not* be in the form of "earn the Hiking merit
badge".

While females CANNOT earn the Eagle Scout Badge, Henry, there's
nothing that prevents them from completing all of the requirements
expected of an Eagle Scout. The EAA (now called the Growth
Opportunities in Leadership Development, or G.O.L.D. Award) was a
good start; I expect that the newer Bronze, Gold and Silver Awards
and the Ranger Award will build upon this and offer a similar level
of experience and personal growth for females AND males wishing to
work toward them. It will mean a lot more, because unlike the
EAA/GOLD Awards, the National Court of Honor will award these, a
status currently enjoyed by Eagle, the "Silver" service awards, the
Quartermaster Award and the lifesaving and meritorious action
awards.

If I knew of an female that have met all of the requirements for
Eagle as an Explorer or now Venturer, I would find an appropriate
non-BSA Eagle plaque or item and award it to her and make it a
public occasion. She may not have her name listed as one of the
many Eagle Scouts in this nation, but to *me* and others that may
have seen this young woman work hard to meet these requirements,
she IS an Eagle Scout.

One day, the blur between Eagle Scouts and Gold Scout/First Class
Girl Scout will be gone, and we won't be too worried about whether
or not she or he earned the "highest award"...but instead about
their experiences as a Scout. "Did you go to summer camp" and
"Explain how you've trained other youth" would be questions
replacing "Did you earn Eagle" and "How many merit badges have you
earned?" by people in and out of Scouting.

Thanks for asking...it's a great question, Henry. And a small
reminder: Male Explorers will shortly lose the ability to earn
Eagle too; under the transition program between Exploring and
Venturing, only Venturers can continue their progress toward Eagle
after a certain date. Even male Explorers will no longer be allowed
to earn merit badges or meet Eagle advancement as part of an
Explorer Post. So if you know of male Explorers still working
toward Eagle as part of their Explorer Post, tell them to HURRY UP
and STOP WASTING TIME...because "time isn't on their side" (just
heard the commerical...sorry...*grinning*)

Settummanque!
(c) 1998 Mike Walton ("no such thing as strong coffee,...") (502) 827-9201
(settummanque, the blackeagle) http://dynasty.net/users/blkeagle
241 Fairview Dr., Henderson, KY 42420-4339 blkeagle@dynasty.net
(note that these addresses will expire on 1 October 1998)
privately at kyblkeagle@aol.com or waltonm@hq.21taacom.army.mil
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