Re: Uniforms for Female Scouters (was Yellow vs. Khahi)
(no name) ((no email))
Tue, 4 Jun 1996 14:09:15 -0500
Donald Wall correctly stated:
>RE: Female leader uniforms. One thing that maybe some folks are overlooking,
>is that the Cub Scout Leader Book (1995 printing) specifies that ALL female
>leaders will wear the blue and gold uniform, the only exceptions being
>Webelos Leaders,Assistant Webelos Leaders, and Webelos Den Leader Coaches.
That's the current policy, Don. However, the BSA's National Uniform and
Insignia Committee has been hearing quite a bit from both male and female
Cub Scouters that have been objecting to the dual uniforming standards for
males and female Cub Scouters doing the *same jobs* for the past three years.
Female Cub Scout Den Leaders are to wear the gold blouses and blue slacks or
skirt while their male counterparts get to wear the khakitan uniforms as all
other
males in Scouting presently do. This presents a double standard, or at the
least
a confusion in "status" when both appear at a Pack meeting, for instance.
Most adults, seeing the "commonality" of the tan uniforms, will go more readily
to a male wearing this outfit than they would the female wearing the traditional
garb, even though both are performing the same role within the program.
Why? They associate the tan shirts with "leadership".
The gold/blue uniform has been associated since Cub Scouting's beginnings
with the second-class status of females within the Scouting program. Cub
Scouting,
being a "introduction" to Scouting is also sometimes perceived as "not as
important
as" it's big-brother, Boy Scouting. We even had separate service awards for
females whom were achievers within their local Council, called the Silver Fawn
Award.
This all slowly started to turn with the introduction of the new uniforms for
males and females, and with the removal of the previous restrictions of
leadership
first in Cub Scouting, then with professional and volunteer service at the
District
or Council level, then with Boy Scouting and finally with regards to
attendance at
Boy Scouting advanced training courses and other programs regarded as "male
only".
The decisions which have been discussed during the National Uniform and Insignia
Committee's spring meeting during the National BSA meeting, has to be first
finalized by the Committee, written for concurrance by the BSA's Program
Group by
their professional advisor, and then approved by the BSA's National
Executive Board
before announcement and implementation. As I've written before, I feel that
the
current slant on the decision and why it was made will be of benefit to all
concerned:
the females that felt "singled out", the males that felt somewhat embarrased
to be
doing the same jobs yet wearing different uniform only because of
"tradition", and
the program overall.
Whatever the final word will be, it will be announced through the BSA's
communications
mediums and sent to your local Council for announcement. I expect it sometime
later this fall.
>If the leader who saw only 3 people wearing blue and gold uniforms at the
>blue & gold, and most of whose leaders male & female, wear khaki, does not
>have a whole lot of Webelos leaders in her pack, then they are in violation
>of BSA uniforming policy.
Not neccessarily. Those OTHERS can be the Cubmaster and Assistant Cubmaster,
the Den Leader Coach, and members of the Pack's Committee. All of those persons
can and do indeed wear the tan field uniform, especially if (and this is the
case in a lot
of instances) whereby they are also leaders in Boy Scouting or Exploring units.
This is a common way that many females get out of wearing the blue and gold.
Not
recommended, but it is a way.
And if the BSA wants to retain the blue and gold, why don't we have GOLD SHIRTS
for the male leaders with blue slacks? Going a little further, why do we
allow female
Scoutmasters and Assistants to wear the tan shirts when their counterparts in
Cubbing (Cubmaster and Assistant Cubmaster) must wear the blue and gold? I
guess you can take it further onward to those Exploring leaders that wear
the green
shirts....
> The leader book also states that units DO NOT have
>the authority to change uniform regulations. If we're going to be Scouters,
>let's take it seriously, and follow the regulations, or at least not give
>subscribers to this list erroneous or misleading information.
I agree with you. The information that I've previously provided and provided
here is only intended to give those affected Scouters a "heads up" that change
is in the way. Tradition is fine, but in this age of equality, sometimes
tradition has
to take a back seat to more functional, equable clothing which identifies the
program and not the gender of the person involved (as if we could not tell the
differences between males and females already)!
Settummanque!
(MAJ) Mike L. Walton (Settummanque, the blackeagle) (
co-Owner, Blackeagle Services of Kentucky (502.826.7046) __)_
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