I was wondering if there were any other Sqns out there that Predominantly had female cadets? We currently have over 3/4 of the Sqn made up of female cadets and we have noticed things are so much different from having a sqn made up mostly of male cadets.
This isnt a post about equality in any way as we are more than happy to have so many girls interested but we seem to be dealing with a whole different dynamic now.
Many more cliques have formed, a lot more behind the scences snipping is happening and attitudes are completly different…
Sorry if im wording this in the wrong way we are just keen to provide the best possible experience for everyone but constantly find ourselves dealing with more drama than we traditionally have had to…
It just seems the traditional playbook isnt working and id love to hear from anyone in a similar situation.
The switch from mainly boys to girls has happened slowly over the last couple of years.
Sort of, in that my ACF detachment used to be predominantly female. Too be honest, things were easier back then and I was proud of the fact that the cadets were over 50% female (by number, not individually). We didn’t find we had to do anything differently.
Unfortunately it isn’t anymore and it is now predominantly male.
Rather astonishingly, I saw an official document that contained guidance notes for officers conducting annual inspections at ACF units in a particular county. It contained a line that said no more than 30% (or some similar figure) of cadets could be female. The shocking part was it was issued to personnel this year! Also it has no grounding in regulations.
Just to be clear I have in no way any problem with the high number of female cadets and am surprised at any publication that would cap numbers of any gender. (Unless there was a specific reason that was lawful).
We have just noted different interpersonal challenges and was wondering if this had been experienced elsewhere.
I would guess that’s a fossil from old regulations similar to those in the ATC.
For comparison, there are (a few) female only CCFs, in girls’ schools, though a good deal more male only ones in boys’ schools of course. The former turn out some excellent cadets in my limited experience.
When I took over my sqn some years ago.The entire NCO team (what there was of it) were female.I soon made changes to that as some of the lasses thought they were untouchable.Once the sqn had expanded a bit and id evened out the NCO team things improved a lot.All though my time there before I left the corps there was always a good contingent of females on the sqn and some of the best cadets ive worked with have been female.On the flip side some of the worst were too.
It seems to ebb and flow. We didn’t have any female cadets for 4 or 5 years but now we have accrued 11 in the last 3 and I have no clue why. Doesn’t alter how I operate.
I don’t see it makes much difference to the squadron, some of the older boys puff their chests out a bit, which is normal IMO and we get some girls doing sports. It’s when you get the relationship merry-go-round, that it becomes and always has been problematic. I remember the first girls in our Wing and it was bizarre to watch boys and these girls were like kids in a sweetshop. It goes on in schools I know, but they have no option but to go to school, unlike the ATC.
Plus I find some of the ‘girly’ antics of falling out with one and ostracising them tiresome. I didn’t really suffer it with our daughters and don’t as the squadron. Parents invariably agree with me.
When I first arrived at my unit, we had a lot of females, fortunately we had no problems with them. That dwindled over the years as I moved to a different Squadron but when I returned to the same unit as OC we hardly had any girls. We built this up over the years and only about 20% now, but to be honest, I don’t want anymore! Some that have fortunately left caused more issues than boys, hold grudges more, caused more drama etc.
As a female myself and dealing with these issues, it’s frustrating and has made me prefer a male orientated Squadron.
On the opposite side, my most senior NCO is female and fantastic, albeit we have to get over the tears every so often.
I hope so. I have no idea what happened to it but if it had been used within my county I would have ensured it was pulled from circulation PDQ.
Interesting. My last senior cadet was female. Completed master cadet faster than anyone recorded in the county with the best course report I’ve seen. Never shed a tear over anything. Can’t say the same for the boys! Pitty she had to go and age out.
That hasn’t happened around here for some time. We made it quite clear that we didn’t care who currently doesn’t like who, they work with who they are told to and they will like it. Haven’t had any issues since.
I’ve just been fortunate not to have it with males.