[15271] in APO-L
Girl Scouts v. Boy Scouts / Vote Locking
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Sharon Zohar)
Wed Nov 6 00:47:19 1996
Date: Wed, 6 Nov 1996 00:08:00 EST
Reply-To: Sharon Zohar <75277.620@COMPUSERVE.COM>
From: Sharon Zohar <75277.620@COMPUSERVE.COM>
To: Multiple recipients of list APO-L <APO-L@VM.CC.PURDUE.EDU>
Hi all,
I'm a former girl scout and a former APO Staffer. I have 2 topics to address:
1) Girl Scouting
Girl Scouting isn't always as fun and exciting as Boy Scouting. It depends on
the leaders. My troop did mostly "fluffy" things, like arts and crafts, and when
we really "roughed" it, we camped out in cabins with flush toilets and bunk
beds. We were only allowed to start wearing uniforms with pants in my second
year in GS (I know I'm showing my age here). Even at the age of 9, I knew we
were doing "girlie" (excuse the expression) stuff, and when I had to give up
Girl Scouting for Hebrew School, I was not all that upset (I was far angrier
that I had to give up bowling, which should say something about the quality of
my scouting experience).
Deb Gallagher was lucky that her experience in Girl Scouts was so challenging,
but I know from my own experience and that of other women I've spoken to that
many girls don't get that wonderful an experience.
That doesn't mean that the principles of Girl Scouting aren't worthy, or that
Girl Scouting isn't as "good" as Boy Scouting - but hey, Boy Scouts don't call
their youngest members "Daisies," for crying out loud!!! That tendency of GSA to
be "fluffy" does hurt GSA's reputation as an organization for developing serious
leaders, unfortunately.
OK, off my GS soap box and onto my National Convention soapbox:
2) Locking votes before National Convention
Chapters: Please, PLEASE don't lock your delegates' votes. We have reference
committees that review and sometimes modify legislation. What if the
modifications change the legislation into something that your chapter would
probably want to approve? Do you handcuff your delegates without giving them any
room to consider changes?
Another point: The main reason we have discussions on the voting floor is to get
delegates to consider all aspects of a piece of legislation. What if a delegate
hears about something on the voting floor that he/she did not know when the
chapter discussed the legislation, something important that makes the delegate
want to reconsider the vote?
In Dallas, I had a long chat with a delegate who felt that what he had learned
about a specific piece of legislation made it important for him to vote for it,
but that his chapter had locked his vote against it. He was very upset and
frustrated. Wouldn't you be??
Doesn't that defeat the whole purpose of a convention? If you lock a delegate's
vote, you might as well skip the whole convention, and just have chapters mail
in their votes, because all the committee work, all the floor discussion,
becomes useless.
In essence, when you lock a delegate's vote, you defeat the main purpose of a
National Convention. Think about that when you discuss the legislation and
choose your delegates.
OK, I'll get off my soapbox. See you in Phoenix!
Sharon Zohar
Alumna of Epsilon Zeta (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute '87)
Former Staffer for Section 96 (Southern New England)
"What's so funny about peace, love, and understanding?" - Elvis Costello
