Women and Wilderness

If wildernesses and the abundant American outdoors are to survive, women role models are needed to support, define, and carry outdoor values and ethics to their sisters and children. Women bring to outdoor ethics insights, perspectives, and compassion and a softer, more spiritual focus, It is the responsibility of those of us who have experienced the wildernesses and America’s vast public lands to share our knowledge, our skills, and our love of the outdoors with youngsters, sisters, and female friends.


160 years ago, when Americans challenged the Great Western Wilderness and headed to Oregon, California, and Utah, only 10% of the pioneers were women. As we stumble forward into the 21st century, we won’t change that ratio unless we as women change it ourselves by teaching children and other women of the pleasures that await them. As many as 60% of children born in the U.S. today will be raised by a single female parent. Those children and their weary mothers desperately need the support of those women in the community who understand and love the outdoors.

Unfortunately, accomplished outdoorswomen are vastly outnumbered by women and children who have never slept under stars, never tasted venison or pheasant, never saddled a horse or toted a backpack, never cast a line for a golden trout or walleye, or navigated with a quad map or cooked a gourmet meal on a Primus stove. They have never peered through a spotting scope, strapped on snowshoes or cross country skis, called in a duck, goose, or coyote, never watched a strutting sage grouse at dawn or heard an elk bugle at dusk, sat on the back of a warm horse, or paddled a canoe in the mist.

I challenge all experienced outdoorswomen to give our children and sisters just what they need for the future: a sense of freedom, a sense of belonging to the natural world, a feeling of ownership, and a spiritual connection to the land and the wildlife. Plan a day hike with female friends and their children, demonstrate some outdoor cooking, take a carload of kids fishing, gather your girlfriends and visit a nearby state or national park, raft a river with a couple of teenagers, participate with a child in an Audubon bird count, visit a day care center with your outdoor gear (especially your tent), offer to do an Leave No Trace Awareness program for some third graders. The possibilities are endless. The rewards are infinite.

Linda Serdiuk is a Leave No Trace Board Member as well as a representative from the Backcountry Horsemen of America. She resides in Wyoming.