LITHIA, Fla. — Girls ages 11-17 were officially allowed to join the Boy Scouts back in 2019, but since then, the number of girls involved in scouting has lagged far behind the number of boys. 

What You Need To Know

  • Girls officially were allowed to join Boy Scouts in 2019 

  • The Greater Tampa Bay Council has 332 troops total, but only 39 are all girl troops
  • Now, they’re trying to change that, actively recruiting female scouts

The Greater Tampa Bay Council has a total of 332 troops. Out of those, only 39 are girls’ troops.

Now, they’re trying to change that, actively recruiting female scouts, saying the lessons and skills taught are needed for all genders.

“It’s going to teach you public speaking, it’s going to teach you to take care of cars, how to do first aid, financial manage, they get all those key factors we sometimes miss growing up in scouting,” said Catherine Eisenhart-Mora with the Greater Tampa Bay Council Boy Scouts of America.

One local troop in Fish Hawk is all girls, and these BSA Scouts say they think all girls should look into it. 

“We don’t call it Boy Scouts anymore, we just call it BSA scouting to make sure people know girls can join too. It’s all inclusive,” said 13-year-old Ahona Ghosh.

“Scouts salute,” said the leader of Troop 305’s meeting to get things started, and after the Pledge of Allegiance, and reciting the Scout Oath and Law, the girls are given their assignment for the evening: a tent building race.

“We’re putting together the poles for the frame of the tent so we can set it up,” said Ahona as she helped her teammates build the tent. Ahona was one of the first to join the all girls troop, which has recently tripled in size.

Ahona says prior to becoming a scout, she had no idea how to put a tent together, much less in a matter of minutes, and it’s learning these types of life skills that piqued her interest in scouting.

“You get to learn a lot of new things. There’s this one merit badge called personal management, it’s about handling money and a bunch of other things about money that you won’t learn in school, but is really useful in life,” she said.

Ahona says being a scout makes her more well-rounded as a person — now, she enjoys everything from camping to figure ice skating, and like the Scout Oath says, it’s about doing your best, helping others and keeping yourself physically strong, mentally awake and morally straight — whether you’re a boy, or girl.