How Northwest Women in Rodeo Changed Perceptions of Ability
When you think of the rodeo you may think cowboys, big belt buckles, brawn and muscle. But rodeo and ranching also served as an overlooked catalyst for views on the capabilities of women. In this episode, Historian Tracey Hanshew explains how the women athletes of early rodeo provide a broader understanding of women’s roles in rural history.
HANSHEW: Today, rodeos in the Northwest are imperative for career athletes as they were before the National Finals Rodeo formed. Ellensburg, Walla Walla, and Pendleton Rodeos, to name a few, were important in the early twentieth century because each had a reputation for consistent prize money and as a rodeo that wasn’t plagued with fraud, both necessary to ensure a livelihood for career athletes. Some of those athletes were women.
The women athletes of early rodeo provide a broader understanding of women’s roles in rural history. Several top cowgirls like Fannie Sperry Steele, Mabel Strickland, and the Greenough sisters were born and raised on ranches across the Northwest. By studying them we have learned that women gentled and trained horses, moved cattle, and managed ranch duties. Working on seclucded ranches , cowgirls redefined femininity, incorporating practical clothing to accommodate the work they did which was traditionally masculine and considered unladylike. They combined split skirts with decorative sashes and lacy blouses with large silk bows and large-brimmed hats. They became quite skilled at masculine work, yet created their own feminine style.
Social expectations for women’s behavior in rural areas compared to urban women reveals that in some ways a separate set of standards existed. Unlike the women in Western dime novels or Hollywood Westerns, women ranchers and athletes were as competent as the cowboys. For example, the Greenough sisters, Alice, and Margie, from a ranch near Red Lodge, Montana worked like their brothers. The girls learned to rope and ride as children and contributed to the family income by working on and off the ranch. Once when a neighbor approached the Greenough ranch to find seasonal help, the boys had already been hired out. So, Alice’s father agreed to let her work driving a team of plow horses for the season, and reportedly said Alice was as good a worker as any man.
The Greenough’s enter the historical record as rodeo cowgirls, but their backstory provides information about how ranching women across the western United States were equally competent working alongside men. When looking for continuity within regional areas like the Northwest, we learn more about women’s history and the contributions they had in society. There is much more to discover about how women in rural areas affected national conversations and affected change to women’s lives.
About the Author:
Tracey Hanshew is a Scholarly Assistant Professor at WSU Tri-Cities, where she teaches on topics such as Women in the American West, Women’s Social History, American Peoples, and United States History through film. She has a Master’s in Social Science from Syracuse University and a Ph.D. in History at Oklahoma State University. Her recent book Oklahoma Rodeo Women, released this past February, is a popular history about women in Oklahoma and how their contributions to professional rodeo helped rodeo get its start and sustained it through years of hardship.
