Why Girl Scouts?

Girl Scouts is the BEST girl leadership experience in the world, period.

The Girl Scout Leadership Experience is a one-of-a-kind, proven leadership development program that pairs girls with strong, caring female role models and mentors who prepare them to take the lead from age 5 to 18 and into adulthood.

Our data-backed, time-tested programs are designed to meet the unique needs and specific interests of girls, including the way they learn best.

Learn more about Why Girl Scouts.

Why Single Gender?

The single-gender environment offered by Girl Scouts creates an inclusive, safe space in which girls are free to explore their potential and take the lead without the distractions or pressures that can be found in a coed environment.

The inclusive, girl-led, all-female environment of a Girl Scout troop creates a safe space in which girls can try new things, develop a range of skills, take on leadership roles, and feel comfortable failing, dusting themselves off, and trying again!

Psychological and Physical Safe Space

At Girl Scouts, girls find a safe haven—a girl-inclusive space where they're free to be themselves without the pressures and social anxiety that can result from a mixed-gender environment.

Our leadership model is designed to meet girls' interests and needs because it’s collaborative and values a diversity of perspectives.

At Girl Scouts, everything we do—from troop meetings, cookie sales, and camping, to STEM and beyond—is girl-led and girl-focused and takes place in the safe space of an all-girl environment.

The girl-only, girl-led, and all-around girl-defined aspects of Girl Scouting are crucial to what we offer, because not all girls have access to the single-gender environment of, for example, the private school system.

The emotional, girl-inclusive safe space offered by Girl Scouts fosters collaboration instead of competition, and promotes support among girls, enabling them to stretch beyond their limits and transfer valuable knowledge and skills to any environment, both now and in the future.

STEM Programming

At Girl Scouts, we're committed to increasing girls' involvement in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) and ensuring that every girl has opportunities to explore and build potential career paths in these important fields.

Our STEM programs:

Adopt a collaborative approach to scientific problem solving and experimentation
Allow girls to see themselves in STEM careers by getting them excited about the subjects at an early age
Demonstrate how STEM fields make a difference in the world
Build girls' self-confidence and expose them to role models and careers in STEM
Teach them to challenge gender stereotypes

Camping and Outdoor Adventure

Activities such as hiking, camping, canoeing, and archery offer girls opportunities to have exciting, girl-led outdoor adventures while learning important skills that teach valuable life lessons, like self-reliance, leadership, and perseverance.

Through girl-led outdoor activities, the Girl Scout experience truly comes to life. Girls:

Seek challenges
Become resourceful problem-solvers
Work cooperatively
Develop a strong sense of self

Girl Scouts also facilitates girls' outdoor experiences in unique ways. In our research:

50 percent of girls said that Girl Scouts provided them with opportunities to experience the outdoors in ways they could not have otherwise.
About 75 percent said that Girl Scouts gave them the chance to build their skills or try new outdoor activities.

Find out about GSCI's Camp and Outdoor experiences.

High Awards, Life Skills, and Achievements

The Girl Scout Gold Award and the National Young Woman of Distinction honor are the most prestigious recognition in Girl Scouts.

Girls typically spend one to two years on their Gold Award projects and must create long-term sustainability plans that benefit the community.

Girl Scout Gold Award recipients rate their general success significantly higher than their peers and report greater success in reaching their goals in many areas:

Higher education and career
- Gold Award recipients stand out in the college admissions process, earn college scholarships, and enter the military one rank higher than their peers.
Additionally, Girl Scout alumnae experience much greater lifetime benefits. They:
- Have more successful careers
- Are more active as mentors and community volunteers
- Vote more regularly
- Are better educated, and enjoy higher household and personal income

Learn more about high awards.

Female Leadership and the Leadership Pipeline

From the boardroom to the courtroom to the caucus room, the need for female leadership has never been clearer or more urgent than it is today—and only Girl Scouts has the expertise to give girls and young women the tools they need to empower themselves and assume their rightful role as leaders.

To create more female leaders, we need to start young and make sure today's girls are acquiring the courage, confidence, character, and other skills they need to take the reins of leadership in the 21st century. Girl Scouts understands this vital connection between youth and future success and offers programming specifically designed with girls in mind.

Women bring invaluable perspectives to the courtroom, the classroom, and the caucus room. If the United States is to maintain its competitive edge in the fast-paced environment of today and tomorrow, we must leverage the full potential of our workforce. Girl Scouts, the best leadership experience for girls in the world, brings more than a century of experience helping girls unlock their potential and unleash it in our world.

Family Engagement

As experts in girls' development and leadership, we offer parents and caregivers invaluable guidance on raising girls today, as well as easy, everyday ways to engage their girls in attaining the leadership, values, and skills promoted through Girl Scouts.

Girl Scouts offers flexible ways for parents and caregivers to support their girls' leadership development through activities that enhance their experiences at home.

Girl Scouts strengthens family ties. It is a way for parents to be closer to their girls. And as girls get older and advance in Girl Scouts, girls and parents alike benefit from troop and other female leaders who serve as vital role models. (In fact, research shows that as girls get older, their experiences in Girl Scouts are further enhanced by their interactions with other girls and female role models who share their family's values.)

Girl Scouts is about girl leadership development. Through Girl Scouts, a girl learns invaluable life skills in everything from STEM to financial literacy and beyond.

Learn more about family involvement in Girl Scouts.

Faith-Based Awards

Girl Scouts is proud of its more than 100-year history of inclusiveness and openness to girls of all faiths.

However, we do not align ourselves with, or offer programming through the lens of any one religion's beliefs or institution.

Our programming encourages girls to explore their personal faith, and to develop a deeper understanding of the role it plays in their own lives.

As with academics, Girl Scouts seeks to enhance a girls' personal faith journey.

Pledging to serve "God and my country" is part of the Girl Scout Promise and Law.

We aren't here to dictate what a girl's faith should be or to encourage her to incorporate any particular practice or belief into her life—we believe matters of personal faith are best left to families.

Find out about Girl Scouts' faith-based awards.