The Boy Scouts of America is an organization known by many that teaches youth responsible citizenship, character development, and other life skills. It focuses solely on males. However, starting next year, girls will be able to join the Cub Scouts and by 2019 girls will be able to earn Eagle Scout rank. Yet, having girls join the Boy Scouts isn’t a choice I can agree with. The Boy Scouts of America is an organization known by many that teaches youth responsible citizenship, character development, and other life skills. It focuses solely on males. However, starting next year, girls will be able to join the Cub Scouts and by 2019 girls will be able to earn Eagle Scout rank. Yet, having girls join the Boy Scouts isn’t a choice I can agree with.

Don’t get me wrong, I believe girls can and should be able to do the same things as Boy Scouts. What bothers me about this decision is the reasoning behind it. If I felt that they made the decision to stop being gender exclusive and break stereotypes, then I would have no problem. However, it seems pretty apparent, to me at least, that all of this is being done for recruitment.

According to the Boy Scouts of America’s website, the amount of members since its peak in 1972 has been decreasing. Though they once had 6.5 million members in 2016, the organization has shrunk down to only 2.3 million members.

Boy Scouts of America refused to let transexuals join since they use “information on an individual’s birth certificate to determine eligibility for (their) single-gender programs,” according to their website. The organization still followed that rule, in use for over a century, until earlier this year.

When they were thriving, they had no problem turning away transexual or homosexual males, or girls. Why now would they suddenly make these changes? They say they want to be more gender inclusive, but is that what’s happening? Rather than a step forward towards inclusivity and female empowerment, it’s a step back. Girls who would’ve joined the Girl Scouts are deceived into joining an organization that just wants membership.

Even when girls join, they’ll likely be a small minority. It doesn’t sound welcoming or empowering.  Even Girl Scouts of the U.S. are against the change. Without explicitly calling out BSA, Girl Scouts USA responded with “The need for female leadership has never been clearer or more urgent than it is today — and only Girl Scouts has the expertise to give girls and young women the tools they need for success.” Though I was never a Girl Scout, I believe the group is a positive influence and their words should be heeded. Women have a better chance to learn valuable life lessons and leadership surrounded with other women, rather than a group who just wants their numbers to go up.