Is Girl Scouts for Big Girls or Little Girls--or Both?

 Most of us have read the statistic that a huge number of today's women leaders were Girl Scouts.  Of course GSUSA would like you to draw the conclusion that the Girl Scout experience was a major factor in making these women into leaders.  However, for those of us of a certain age, if you were looking at activities that "every" girl, particularly "every" middle class girl did, the big contenders were dancing lessons, piano lessons and Girl Scouts.  For those of us who grew up before Title IX, girls' sports were not a given.  Are these women leaders because of their Girl Scout experience or are they leaders because they grew up in middle and upper income households and Girl Scouts is one of the things those girls did that poorer girls who are less likely to achieve leadership positions, did not?  

Juliette Gordon Low started Girl Scouts in 1912 and the program was originally for girls from ten to seventeen years old.  While I cannot find when Brownies was started, I know that in the late 1960's and early 1970's it was a two year program for second and third graders.  Later it expanded to first through third grades and then in 1984, Daisies, a program for Kindergarten girls, was developed.  While different councils may have had different rules, when I was a Junior from 1970-1973, Brownies did not camp--that was for real Girl Scouts, who said the Girl Scout Promise, not the Brownie Promise, and whose pin was the trefoil, not one showing a two-finger salute.  

If you visit the First Headquarters in Savannah, one thing you will see is "The Golden Eaglet", a video that shows Girl Scouts saving the day.  While melodramatic, and probably a little unrealistic, the things shown in that film are clearly things that would be done by big girls, not little ones.  

Who Are Today's Girl Scouts?

Anyone who is around Girl Scouts for any length of time today realizes that most of our members are young.  How young?  I looked at some council reports:

Girl Scouts Louisiana East:  

Girl Scouts Louisiana East has, according to the 2019 Annual Report,  10,281 girl members.  26% are Daisies, 33% Brownies, 24% Juniors, 12% Cadettes, 3% Senior and 2% Ambassadors.  In my experience (this is my council) at least in my area, most troops are at Catholic schools as Catholic schools are where the majority of middle class families send the kids to school.  In my area, the public schools are K-5 and the Catholic schools, K-7, so if switching schools was a major factor in troops disbanding, we would see it in first year Cadettes, and not in the drop between Brownies and Juniors.  The only schools I know of with school-based Senior and Ambassador troops are the public magnet schools, and those troops often started in the magnet elementary schools.  The Catholic school system does not operate on a "feeder" system, but rather students pick among several high schools. 

Girl Scouts New Mexico Trails:

According to their 2020 Annual Report, Girl Scouts New Mexico Trails has 2993 girl members.  21% are Daisies, 29% Brownies, 26% Juniors, 17% Cadettes, 5% Seniors and 2% Ambassadors.  

Girl Scouts Colorado

Per the 2019 Annual Report, Girl Scouts Colorado had 21,456 girl members.  23.46% were Daisies, 30.18% were Brownies, 24.05% were Juniors, 15.45% were Cadettes, 3.43% were Seniors and 2.5% were Ambassadors.  

Girl Scouts Greater Los Angeles

Girl Scouts Greater Los Angeles serves 46,821 girls.  18.35% are Daisies, 27.11% are Brownies, 23.43% are Juniors, 20.4% are Cadettes, 6.15% are Seniors and 4.42% Ambassadors.  

Girl Scouts Greater New York

Girl Scouts Greater New York is the council serving New York City.  It has 32,280 girl members.  26% are Daisies, 30% are Brownies, 24% Juniors, 15% Cadettes, 4% Seniors and 2% Ambassadors.  

Girl Scouts Greater Mississippi

Girl Scouts Greater Mississippi covers the most populated part of the state.  According to the 2018 Annual Report, they had 8455 girl members.  27% were Daisies, 32% Brownies, 24% Juniors, 12% Cadettes, 3% Seniors and 2% Ambassadors.  

Girl Scouts Central Illinois

Girl Scouts Central Illinois in 2018 had 15,476 girl members.  12% were Daisies, 30% were Brownies, 27% were Juniors, 19% were Cadettes, 4% were Seniors, 2% Ambassador and 7% unknown.  

Girl Scouts Texas Oklahoma Plains

Girl Scouts Texas Oklahoma Plains  had 21,612 members in 2017. 23% were Daisies, 28% Brownies,  24% Juniors, 20% Cadettes, 3% Seniors and 2% Ambassadors.  On the same page of the Annual Report it was noted that 55% of the girls were in volunteer-run troops and 43% were in Girl Scouts at School or other community outreach programs. I wonder how that affects their numbers.  

Older Girl Programming

It seems that when GSUSA develops new programming, the little girls get it first.  The older girls are often a year behind.  When the current program came out, the badge selections for Ambassadors especially was extremely limited.  Whether that was because it was thought Ambassadors were not interested in badges,  or because GSUSA did not want to spend the money developing a program for such a small segment of girls or because GSUSA wanted the older girls to do Journeys and Higher Awards is, I guess, a  matter for discussion. 

In the past, GSUSA had Trailblazer (camping) and Mariner (sailing) troops for older girls and those programs were re-introduced  this Girl Scout year.  However, with Covid-19, I'm sure their effect has been limited.  

My Comments

I read somewhere that the average girl is in Girl Scouts for about three years--and that that number is pretty much what it was 50 years ago.  The difference is that 50 years ago, this "average" girl joined as a second grade Brownie and quit after her first year of Juniors.  Now she starts in Daisies or Brownies and is done by Juniors.  My review of the figures above doesn't really support that idea--though none of the reports talked about how many years girls were members.  

Every council I checked had Brownies as the largest level.  I picked  these because I was looking for geographically and demographically diverse councils and these were ones that had the information I was seeking readily available, so I have no idea if this is a random sample or not. However the numbers, for the most part, are consistent.  

I was honestly surprised at how many Cadettes there were.  Here most troops are school-based and few survive the transition to high school.  However, I know that in many places switching schools in 6th grade is common.  Evidently troops survive, or at least hope to do so.  

In a lot of ways it is a "chicken or egg" problem. If Girl Scouts doesn't offer anything of interest to older girls, then they won't remain members, particularly when they get to high school and have a wide variety of extra-curricular activities available.  On the other hand, like most businesses, GSUSA spends its money on its major customers, the younger girls. However, this little girl focus makes Girl Scouts less attractive to older girls--the ones who can most embrace and benefit from the leadership aspects of the program.  

Of the councils I looked at, the outlier was Greater Los Angeles in which 6.15% of the girls were Seniors and 4.42% were Ambassadors.  I wonder what they do differently?  In all the other councils 2% or less of the girls were Ambassadors.  

I've never worked with older girls, so I have no idea if my idea for them has any merit, but if you put me in charge of older girl retention/ recruitment, I'd focus on creating permanent troops led by long-term volunteers with specific interests, staff members or parents who accept that they are expected to follow the focus of the troop--that the focus is why the girls joined.  These troops would be like the Mariner or Trailblazer troops, but could also focus on STEM or travel or whatever they can get a group together to do.  If bridging troops wanted to stay together and do an eclectic program, they could, but clearly most are not choosing to do so, whether that choice is made by the leader or by the girls.  I would make sure every 8th grade Cadette got an invitation to join one of these permanent troops.  I know this is an idea that would work better in a heavily-populated area than a rural one, but there is so much older girls can do and honestly, those of us who like little kids probably aren't the best ones to lead teens who are spreading their wings.  Heck, in today's Zoom-connected world, an older girl troop could meet virtually to plan whatever, and then on the weekends, drive an hour or two to an event periodically.  

What do you think Girl Scouts should do about older girls?