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When Boy Scouts of America announced聽this week that it would admit girls, the national board chairman 鈥淚鈥檝e seen nothing that develops leadership skills and discipline like this organization. It is time to make these outstanding leadership development programs available to girls.鈥� Apart from garnering a from the Girl Scouts, it also raised the question: What can children get from one scouting organization that they aren鈥檛 already getting from the other?

Afterall, both troops trek their kids into the wilderness. Both boast hundreds of badges for their scouts to earn. Both emphasize leadership and citizenship. Both have a hierarchy of prestigious service awards that look great on a r茅sum茅. Both knock on your door once a year selling addictive, overpriced snacks.

But comparing the two organizations reveals distinct differences in the messaging and programming available to boys and girls. The two don鈥檛 equally emphasize critical thinking, arts, science, autonomy, community service, and careers. And while a large collection of research can鈥檛 quite agree on whether single-sex institutions are helpful or harmful, it might be better for boys and girls if each organization would take a page out of the other鈥檚 scouting handbook.

Consider rocks 鈥� there can鈥檛 be a less gendered topic to explore. But a 2011 study published in found a mountain of difference in the way Boy Scouts and Girls Scouts teach it.

Boys could earn a professional-sounding Geologist Badge, while girls earned one with a much cuter name: Rocks Rock. But when boys learned about rocks, they responded to questions about minerals and mountains in a booklet with all the answers available. Conversely, girls were required to do research, start a rock collection, classify them using their own source materials, learn about natural disasters, or connect with a group fighting erosion.

The study found that other badges followed this pattern: Boys鈥� badges were more likely to have career-sounding names, but girls鈥� badges required research and critical thinking skills. A look at the organizations鈥� subject areas found that 11 percent of Girl Scout activities were arts-focused, while only 2 percent were science-oriented. Meanwhile, 6 percent of Boy Scouts鈥� activities were arts and 6 percent were science.

Messages in the handbooks also showed gender differences. In the Girl Scouts, 30 percent of the content focused on community-oriented activities, compared with 17 percent in the Boy Scouts鈥� book, which focused much more on the self. The researcher also found girls were presented with more 鈥淚鈥檒l try鈥� statements or promises, while boys were presented with 鈥淚 am鈥� or 鈥淚 will鈥� attitudes.

鈥淚 think that just highlights, when you separate boys and girls, the environment and the culture diverges,鈥� said Lise Eliot, a neuroscience professor at Rosalind Franklin University who鈥檚 written about gender stereotypes.

Neither the Boy Scouts nor the Girl Scouts responded to a request for comment.

Both organizations have come a long way since the beginning of their 100-year histories. This year, Girl Scouts and outdoor badges, many with career-focused names like 鈥淭hink like an Engineer鈥� or 鈥淭hink like a Programmer.鈥� Meanwhile, the Boy Scouts have overcome some , such as barring gay members and not allowing women to be troop leaders.

Even this new move by the Boy Scouts isn鈥檛 completely inclusive or integrated. Although boys and girls will have the same curriculum and can earn the same awards, they will remain in single-gendered dens.

Single-sex institutions can be limiting for both boys and girls, Eliot said. 鈥淚 always claim we restrict kids鈥� development by plotting them into the boys鈥� chute or the girls鈥� chute in terms of what activities can you do and who can you talk to, and it really limits the full range of one鈥檚 human potential to only hang out with half of the population,鈥� she said.

Moreover, if society expects to have workplaces where men and women treat each other respectfully, that training has to start with children, Eliot added.

Research on the benefits of single-sex organizations reveals ambiguous results, according to a literature review from the , some finding benefits for academics and aspirations and others finding no benefit or negative consequence.

Still, Eliot pointed out a cultural inequity with the Boy Scouts鈥� embracing of girls. While it鈥檚 seen as acceptable for girls to join boys鈥� activities, society views boys joining girls鈥� activities with heavy skepticism, which could spell out trouble for the Girl Scouts.

The Girl Scouts鈥� national president the Boy Scouts of trying to boost their declining membership by appealing to millennial parents, according to a letter obtained by BuzzFeed. Currently, the Boy Scouts have 2.3 million members, versus the Girl Scouts鈥� 1.8 million. But the Boy Scouts responded that the move was made in response to requests from parents to have their children under the umbrella of one organization.

Other countries have shared-gender scouting organizations labeled under a gender-neutral name, such as Scouts Canada and Scouts Australia. The Boy Scouts said there are no plans to change its name, according to the .

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