Polite Not Sexist
Over a thousand men and women were surveyed about their experiences with sexism in the ranching industry. Many different personal experiences, work environments, and opinions were told of and heard. The points made in this article come from the majority of those who were polled. There were a handful of people that did not agree with these opinions and to those I would like to say, sorry. Not for writing this, but for the bad experiences you have had and the people who have treated you poorly. Know that it isn’t like that everywhere.
Among the women polled, well over half of them said they had experienced some sort of sexism in the industry at one time or another. Upon discussing each case with them, 9 times out of 10, they concluded that these men that were treating them differently because of gender were either slightly uncomfortable working with women or they were choosing the harder jobs to be kind to the women. They were not saying that the ranch isn’t a place for a woman.
A woman’s place is anywhere she wants it to be. We can work on ranches for the same wages as the other hands. We can show horses, brand calves, work town jobs, drive tractors, and be gear makers. We can be homemakers, mothers, team ropers, colt starters, and rodeo competitors. I’m personally glad there is still a little separation in the rodeo world because if I had to compete against all the men in open events, I would donate even more than I already do against the women. I love events where women have a chance to showcase all their skills and compete against one another. I aspire to be like a lot of these women. But I think it is very important not to take the roll of a man and do away with it. I would dare say a good majority of the horses these women are competing on were joint projects with the men in their lives. Men deserve to get credit for all their hard work, the same as women.
We need men to be men, more than ever. If a man opens a gate for you or calls you ma’am or miss, please do not get offended. They were raised that way. It’s called manners. You will probably be assigned the “Shot Girl” job at a branding quite often. The fact that it gets that title isn’t sexist, it’s observant. It usually is a woman that administers the shots for two reasons. First women tend to pay attention to detail and are good at giving vaccinations. Second, men are being polite protecting women from getting their shins all bruised up while flanking calves. That’s it, there is no, “let’s put women in their place, in the kitchen or with the vaccine gun in their hands,” going on here. They know very well that you are capable of doing things on your own. A few years ago, I wrote a similar article to this one called Being a Cowboy Girl and it included this tip to women, “Be a woman that can do it all but find a crew that won’t make you.”
Next time you think someone is being sexist please ask yourself if there is a chance that they are being polite trying to save you from the hard jobs. I know there are some real jack wagons out there who actually are sexist, but they are few and far between. If they are common in your area, you need to move because men are not like that everywhere. Most are polite and will go the extra mile, so you don’t have to. Let them. Don’t try to take their role as a man. Be a woman that can do it all but find men that won’t make you.
