The Girl Scouts just celebrated 100 years and their report shows that Girl Scouting has made a difference in the lives of the girls themselves and the world around them.
Growing up, if we are lucky, we are provided with a few solid role models; maybe a hardworking mother, maybe an excellent school teacher, but throughout the year’s women have not had specific places where they were encouraged to thrive. Girl Scouts provided exactly that, forming a community of women who are empowered enough to enact positive change around them which in turn creates a richer inner life for them as individuals.
The report states that “this is the case for all Girl Scout alumnae, across ages social classes, races and degrees of engagement in other extracurricular activities.”
“Girls who pursue their Gold Award aspire to transform an idea and vision for change into an actionable plan with measurable, sustainable, and far-reaching results…among them green energy, gender-balanced leadership, STEM education, and violence prevention.”
1 million girls have earned this award since 1916.
“These girls display more positive life outcomes compared with non-Girl Scout alumnae. These outcomes pertain to sense of self, life satisfaction, leadership, life success, community service, and civic engagement.”
On counts of sense of self: “73% of Gold Award recipients feel they are competent and capable in the activities that are important to them compared with non-alumnae.”
For life satisfaction, “89% of recipients are optimistic about their future compared with 76% of non-alumnae.”
As leaders, “81% think of themselves as a leader, compared to 50% of non-alumnae” and “are more likely to see themselves as leaders and to have leadership experiences in volunteer activities, schools, their communities, and politics.”
In terms of life success, the recipients “place more emphasis on a successful career, financial security and being a leader, and are more likely to believe they are achieving their ambitions in life. 92% feel they have had success in their career compared with 80% of non-alumnae.”
When it comes to community service, “60% of recipients are currently involved with in volunteer/community work, compared with 31% of non-alumnae.”
And lastly, civic engagement, “58% have been involved with politics compared to 40% of non-alumnae.” And a whopping, “99% say belonging to Girl Scouts has positively impacted their life.”
Much of art has been confronting the condition of female-hood and not every girl need be measured by the same metric, but what is valuable about this report is how the responses are qualified by each girls measurement of their fulfillment. We need not accomplish similar things to feel accomplished but the feeling is the ultimate factor.
Top image from @thefreshpickle
Middle image from Girl Scouts Website.
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