Joshua Tree Council Girl Scouts Embody Changing Views of Leadership
Joshua Tree Council Girl Scouts Embody Changing Views of Leadership
By: Patricia Henson
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Posted by ph20 Tue Nov 30, 1999 00:00:00 PST
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Nationwide Survey Finds That Girls Want to Change the World
Girls from Girl Scouts-Joshua Tree Council are showcasing how girls lead through planning and implementing vaious community service projects to earn their Gold, Silver and Bronze Girl Scout Awards. Girl Scouts-Joshua Tree Council Junior Troop 215 recently focused their attention toward men and women who serve in the military to complete their Bronze Award Project.
The girls collected, cut and sorted enough coupons to fill five gallon-size Ziploc bags and sent them to the Marine Corps base in Japan.
Troop 215 chose to support military personnel and their families due to their belief that those serving in the military do not receivce monetary compensation
equivalent to their sacrifice and job responsibilities. Military personnel do not have access to coupons; however, commissaries on overseas bases accept coupons (even up to 6 months expired).
“Girls want to change the world—be it by helping out someone in need, cleaning up a park or by caring for our military personnel,” said CEO Linda Wright, Girl Scouts-Joshua Tree Council. “The commitment of the girls is a testament to how they view themselves as agents of positive change in the world”
The Girl Scouts of Joshua Tree Council join millions of other girls who wish to lead in new ways. More than half of American girls say they do not aspire to be leaders, turned off by the conventional conception of leadership as command and control, according to a study recently released by Girl Scouts of the USA.
The nationwide survey, conducted by the Girl Scout Research Institute (GSRI), found that 39 percent of girls want to be leaders, and that the desire for leadership is higher for African-American (53 percent), Hispanic (50 percent) and Asian-American (59 percent) girls compared to Caucasian girls (34 percent). Yet a majority of girls (52 percent) is deeply ambivalent about leadership, saying that being a leader is not that important to them.
The data indicate, however, that while girls find the command-and-control style of leadership unappealing, a majority of them would aspire to a different kind of leadership focused on personal principles, ethical behavior and the ability to affect social change.
Some 68 percent of survey respondents said they would want to be leaders who stand up “for their beliefs and values,” and 59 percent said that they would like to be a leader “who tries to change the world for the better.”
“It’s clear from the research that girls today don’t embrace the conventional style of leadership,” said Judy Schoenberg, Director of Research and Outreach at the Girl Scout Research Institute and lead author of the study, Change It Up! What Girls Say About Redefining Leadership. “It’s simply not how they want to lead. Girls today appear to be redefining leadership in terms of being more inclusive and serving a larger purpose.”
The study, which provides a rare glimpse into girls’ evolving perceptions of leadership and comes amid U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton’s high-profile bid for the Democratic presidential nomination, involved a national survey of 2,475 girls and 1,514 boys ages 8 to 17, as well as a series of focus groups and ethnographic interviews.
The survey also yielded data on current leadership perceptions. Overall, 61 percent of youth consider themselves leaders in their everyday lives, with the proportion being highest among African-American girls (75 percent), African-American boys (74 percent), and Hispanic girls (72 percent).
Indeed, the survey and qualitative research revealed that boys and girls share many of the same perceptions of leadership. However, there were differences. Girls’ leadership aspirations were more likely to be driven by altruistic motives, whereas boys were more likely to be motivated by power and money.
Girls were more likely than boys to be leaders because they want to help other people (67 percent vs. 53 percent), share their knowledge and skills with others (53 percent vs. 47 percent) and change the world for the better (45 percent vs. 31 percent).
Boys, on the other hand, were significantly more likely than girls to be motivated by the desire to be their own boss (38 percent vs. 33 percent), make more money (33 percent vs. 26 percent), and have more power (22 percent vs. 14 percent).
Furthermore, a strong majority (82 percent) of youth agreed that girls and boys are equally good at being leaders. However, 56 percent of respondents also agreed that “in our society, it is more difficult to become a leader for a woman than a man.” And more than half (52 percent) of girls and boys agreed, “Girls have to work harder than boys in order to gain positions of leadership.” That perception was more widely held by girls (57 percent) than boys (44 percent).
Celebrating its 95th year in 2007, Girl Scouting offers a safe, supportive environment where, in partnership with caring adults, girls can participate in fun and challenging experiences that empower them to discover, connect and take action. Girl Scouting builds girls of courage, confidence, and character, who make the world a better place. Girl Scouts – Joshua Tree Council serves over 9500 girls in 40 communities. To volunteer your time, make a donation, or join Girl Scouts – Joshua Tree Council call (661) 327-1409 or visit us on the web at www.girlsfirst.org.
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