When the Boy Scouts admitted girls to Cub Scouting in 2017, the argument proceeded as if the question had never been tried; at least eight countries had already merged or opened their programs. The episode reads the results. Britain grew for years yet cannot place over 100,000 children for lack of adult volunteers, while Canada's and Australia's declines began long before girls were admitted. Almost no research tests whether coeducation matters.
Who's who
- Liam MorlandAuthor of the only empirical Scout retention study
- Ian ElliottAuthor of the 2019 learning review of Scouting Ireland's predecessors
Where it happens
- Sweden+1 more episodeFirst full merger of boys' and girls' Scout organizations, 1960
- United Kingdom+2 more episodesMade coeducation mandatory in January 2007
- Canada+2 more episodesOpened all sections in 1992 and made coeducation mandatory in 1998
- Australia+1 more episodeAdmitted girls to Cubs and Scouts in 1988
- IrelandLost 22% of juvenile members in five years after a 2019 review
Timeline
- 1960Sweden merges its boys' and girls' Scout organizations
- 1972Finland's boys' and girls' associations merge
- 1988Australia admits girls to Cubs and Scouts
- 1992Canada extends coeducation to all sections
- January 2007United Kingdom makes coeducation compulsory, in the movement's centenary year
- January 2025British census counts 445,916 young people
Still debated
There is essentially no research on whether coeducation helps or hurts membership, as the one empirical retention study ignores gender. Per-capita comparisons across countries rest on unpublished arithmetic and incomparable counts, and several country dates are disputed.