Forget cartoons. I grew up watching westerns: The Lone Ranger; Broken Arrow; Wyatt Earp; Bat Masterson; Sky King; Roy Rogers; Gene Autry and more. One thing was missing in most of these: Cowgirls.
Westerns love to have cowboy heroes. Big, strong, brave cowboys protect the timid frontier women. They spend their time loading guns, hiding, watching the cowboys fight for them.
Are There Cowgirls?
According to “Cowgirls: Women of the American West” by Teresa Jordan, one of five pioneers was a woman homesteader. These were not wives, they were independent women who staked a homestead and proved it out. Some built up ranches. Other women became widows and decided to stay on the ranch to run it.
These women worked digging post poles and stringing fence, working cattle or horses or sheep, breaking horses, riding in rodeos, all the things cowboys did. Some of the heavier work was beyond them physically, but most of it wasn’t. It needed doing, so they did it.
What About Children?
Forget the pampered children of today. Frontier children worked as part of the family. Ranching was hard work, not that lucrative, so everyone had to help or all would fail.
“No Life for a Lady” by Agnes Morley Cleaveland tells of growing up in New Mexico territory. As soon as children were able to sit on a horse (six or seven years old), they were helping keep track of the cattle, riding tens of miles for the mail and other things.
More modern cowgirls often take their children out with them. Now babies can stay in a truck. Once they sat on the saddle behind a parent or in an insulated box on the wagon seat. As toddlers, they are on their own horses.
Today’s Cowgirls
There are still cowboys and cowgirls. Some things have changed as tractors, trucks and other vehicles have replaced many of the horses. But fencing still needs fixing. Cattle still need to be rounded up.
Find copies or this book and other books to find out more about cowgirls, women who deserve better than a footnote.
