The Boy Scouts of America just announced a BIG change yesterday
for the first time in their history, they've decided to admit GIRLS.
And that decision will certainly make a bunch of people angry, as all decisions relating to gender equality do these days, but here's who's REALLY angry: The Girl Scouts. Because, you know, admitting girls is already kinda their thing.
The Boy Scouts decided to start letting girls who are between seven and 10 years old join the Cub Scouts as of next year. And they're going to let them start working their way up to Eagle Scout as of 2019.
Each local scout organization can decide whether to have both boys and girls together in the same troop, or to have separate troops for boys and girls.
So why would girls want to join the Boy Scouts? A study found that the Girl Scouts tend to push more activities like art and, of course, selling cookies, while the Boy Scouts push more science activities and individual problem-solving skills.
Also, being an Eagle Scout tends to be seen as more prestigious by the public, who might not even know of the highest rank in the Girl Scouts, which is a Gold Award. The Girl Scouts don't agree with ANY of that, though.
They've been against the co-ed idea since the Boy Scouts first started tossing it around earlier this year and one of their executives said yesterday, quote, "We are unparalleled in our ability to build great female leaders."