Women Role Models

The role model for women in my mother's generation was Lucy Ball's most memorable character, Lucy Ricardo in I Love Lucy,  She was a role model for the average housewife in the 1950's.  Her husband was boss, she could not balance a budget, she was suppose to stay at home,  a career was out of the question, her house was immaculate, she was only interested in clothes, she was a dingbat and she had breakfast on the table otherwise the man would starve. She could not handle a gun.

I Love Lucy defined the role for women in the 1950's.  This was the same time that my mother had a scholarship to the Chicago Art Institute.  When the war ended, she was brought in and told that the scholarship was to be taken away.  The boys were coming home and they were going to give it to a man.  After all, she would not need the education because she would soon be married and a man would provide for her.  As it turned out, my Dad, the eccentric character that he was, was a great dad, but not a reliable provider.  A wise women, she went to college, got a job, and  eventually flipped houses to retire in Florida - by herself.

What does this have to do about divas?  Women have crashed the glass ceiling in many areas.  Now women are the new market for firearms and firearm sports.  Girls and women need role models as firearms users, business people, firearms and accessories manufacturers, hobbyists, organization leaders and educators.  They need role models better than the one pictured here.  This is not what a mother would want her daughter to think was a role model.  This is the role model for a male dominated industry.

Women need to become active in providing realistic role models.  That means: learning about guns, how to  handle guns safely, how to keep them safe in the house, what type of gun to purchase, how to teach children to be safe around guns, participating in firearm sports and be informed about issues that come up in legislation.

This means that more women need to be involved as learners and then trainers, business people and role models.  We need women in the industry.

Resources:
A Girl and A Gun
Women's Outdoor News
The Women's Outdoor Media Association