Scouting America · Episode 10 of 13 · 20 min
The Girls Were Always There
The story that the Boy Scouts let girls in during 2018 is wrong: women ran Cub dens from 1936 and girls were registered members of Exploring from 1971. What changed in 2019 was whether a girl could earn Eagle Scout. The institution dated the inaugural class of female Eagles to a single day, February 8, 2021, so none would be first.
Timeline
- 1936Den Mother created as an unregistered position
- 1971Exploring goes fully coeducational
- 1988All positions including Scoutmaster open to women
- October 11, 2017Announcement that girls will join Cub Scouting
- February 1, 2019Girls become full members; Boy Scouts becomes Scouts BSA
- February 8, 2021All credentials of the inaugural female Eagle class dated to this day
Still debated
Scouting America never published an exact size for the first female Eagle class, saying only 'nearly 1,000'. A 2026 cumulative female Eagle figure is lower than a 2025 figure and was set aside, and no official percentage of female participation exists.