Breaking Barriers and Bridging Gaps: Rodeo Cowgirls and the Making of Rural Feminism

Breaking Barriers and Bridging Gaps: Rodeo Cowgirls and the Making  of Rural Feminism

LA GRANDE, Ore. – “Branding Their Own: Cowgirls, Rodeo, and Rural Feminism, 1890 – 1935” is a project that explores feminism in the rural American West with special attention to ranch women and rodeo cowgirls. 

Dr. Tracey Hanshew, Assistant Professor of History at Eastern Oregon University will present for the next EOU Colloquium on March 14, 2024, from 4-5 p.m. in Ackerman Hall. 

Competition in the rodeo arena from 1900 to 1935, provided opportunities for women to establish careers both as athletes and in contract performance. By doing so, women gained financial independence unique to that of many women working in other professions. 

Rodeo, as the first professional sport for women in America and as a dangerous sport, was an important platform for women to dispel notions that had previously restricted opportunities for female athletes.

In analyzing the social norms of the period, and reactions to rodeo cowgirls who lived in this predominantly male world of extreme competition, Eastern Oregon University’s Dr. Tracey Hanshew argues during her colloquium that rodeo cowgirls stimulated change to greater social norms and that their contributions to feminist progress have largely been overlooked due to their rural status. 

Hanshew makes the case that by extending ideals of certain gender impartialities found in rural areas of the West, specifically in working and ranching skills, and the ability to do “men’s work” yet remain feminine, cowgirls provided a foundation for feminist posterity by presenting themselves as equally competent to men athletically, and in their abilities to manage a successful career. Although these women did not self-identify as feminists, their actions aligned with feminists’ principles of equality and autonomy.