The Great Seal of the State of Wyoming pictures in its center a draped female figure reminiscent of Lady Justice holding a staff flying a banner with the words “Equal Rights.” In 1935, the Legislature officially designated Wyoming as “The Equality State.” The motto institutionalized the long time nickname based on the fact that Wyoming was both the first territory and the first state to grant women the right to vote. Wyoming was the first state in which a woman served as governor and the first state in which a woman served as a justice of the peace. Wyoming was the first state in which women served on juries and the first with a woman court bailiff. In 1920, Jackson voters elected an all-female town council and mayor. One candidate defeated her male husband. The newly elected council then appointed women to serve as clerk, treasurer, health officer and marshal. It was the first time an American municipal government was managed entirely by women.
Opinion
It’s exciting to think of my home as a place committed to equality. So it was disheartening when I learned that a 2024 report from the Wyoming Women’s Foundation showed women in Wyoming earned 70 cents for every dollar men earned. An even more extreme wage difference was shown in the June 2024 Wyoming Workforce report on average annual income in the state — $37,986 for women and $57,574 for men, indicating that women earn just under 66 cents for each dollar men earn.
The state only rarely invokes its Equal Rights heritage, though. Mostly, we say we’re the Cowboy State, the cowboy being a romanticized and quintessentially male figure, notwithstanding the number of women who have been and are ranchers. Our automobile license plates feature a cowboy on a bucking bronco, as do the “Welcome to Wyoming” highway signs. When the University of Wyoming decided to create a marketing campaign for itself, begging the question of why a university needs a marketing campaign, it settled on the phrase, “The world needs more cowboys,” not “the world needs more equality.” In explaining its campaign, the university noted that to be a cowboy is to be curious and bold and that cowboys can be any race, any gender, any ethnicity. I want to see that cowboy movie. And I want us to speak more openly on behalf of equality for all. At least we could offer equal pay for equal work here in the Equality State.
In 2010, the Legislature reinforced the Cowboy State image by adopting as state law what lawmakers labeled the Code of the West, a code derived from a book called Cowboy Ethics. There were 10 points in the code, including: live each day with courage, take pride in your work, finish what you start, do what has to be done, keep your promises, know where to draw the line. These are pretty good guidelines, but they have no more to do with cowboys than with carpenters, sheep shearers, school teachers or legislators; that is, they have a lot to do with all of us.
Still, a few of the points in the code might give pause. Take this one: talk less, say more. Maybe, but we might amend this to: say what needs to be said — don’t keep your mouth shut when you should speak on behalf of what’s right. Another one I wonder about is, be tough but fair. In my experience, being tough is not always the right or most effective way to be fair. What if it read: be gentle and listen to the perspectives of all? Then there’s the most metaphoric of the Code’s tenets — ride for the brand. What do we do when the brand is wrong? What do we say to those who ride for the brand, knowing it’s causing harm? Ride for the brand can too easily become a call to put loyalty before ethics.
The last of the 10 points is one I wish we would more fully embrace — remember that some things are not for sale. More and more, we are taught that everything has a price, that every human interaction is transactional, that everything is a commodity to buy and sell.
If we can live in the awareness that some things are not for sale — not our commitment to equality nor our commitment to the land we’ve worked — we can bring the Cowboy State and the Equality State together. Lady Justice, scales balanced in her hand, can climb up there on that horse and with the cowboy beside her, ride.
I encourage everyone to look at the state seal a little closer. The woman in the center still has chains on her wrist. The chain is broken symbolizing the event of women’s suffrage. It also symbolizes that equality is an ideal.
And it is a State seal. The idea of equality when it comes to a state… a political entity that enacts laws, justice and governance… is political equality.
Individuals can work hard earn more pay than other individuals. You have the freedom to make brilliant financial decisions whilst someone else spends their time with alcohol, drugs, and gambling addictions. David is arguing for equality of place in society, equality of wealth and equality of income. That will always be a fiction.
David was paid handsomely to be a professor in UW teaching Arts. The staff in the college, mostly women were not paid nearly so well, and they had 8-5 hours 5 days a week while David, in a rough semester, probably taught 3 classes on MWF.
The real math of of social situations has symbols like >,<,= and symbols that represent probability. When liberals cry that our state does not have equality, they ignore human behavior and the opportunities that are wide open in Wyoming.
There is nothing wrong with the cowboy ethics. David should not seek to rewrite them. Rather, he should live his life the way he believes he should. In other words, use the freedom that he does have in a country that values that freedom.
Thank You David for a thought provocative piece. In my opinion Cowboy Culture is for individuals not for everyone to emulate. In my experience the cowboy/cowgirl types lack compassion for others who don’t follow the so called COWBOY CODE and like Willy Nelson sings “if you don’t understand him, he/she will just ride away” (paraphrased). I enjoyed your article and am married to a cowboy for 36 years!!
An excellent journalistic piece that ought to prompt self reflection here in Wyoming. Sadly, most in Wyoming seem to lack the ability to reflect upon such thoughts.
Wyoming needs to define what equality means. I know it doesn’t pertain to our public lands.
Thank you, David! And you really do get out around the state quite a bit—after all, you played the accordion and sang at Mima’s 90th birthday party in Hillsdale, WY. We loved your music that day, and we love your ideas here too.
Thank you. Fantastic article.
A great apples to oranges comparison, with that and the ‘broad’ brush his art should sell as well as a banna duct taped to a poster board.
From equality to cowboys… WY’s identity is as empty as WY lands. The guy who wrote Cowboy Ethics/Code of the West is an NYC investment banker. How fitting!
Bravo!
It is my experience that the State Motto has morphed from “The Equality State” to the “Go back to where you came from State”.
Way to go, David, nicely stated!
Every oft repeated tenet tends toward a cliche; every cliche, unexamined, can become a falsifying stand-in for reality. Injustice is not assuaged by a slogan. Fairness and tolerance are not a cut out silhouette. Equality requires honesty and honest work.
This article is extremely misleading. The author is talking about averages across the State for equal pay? Do male nurses in Wyoming make 66% more than women? No. Do male law enforcement officers make 66% more than women officers? No. What he is leaving out is the extremely high number of men who work in high paying jobs in the extraction industries here in Wyoming.
So let’s take the authors own words a bit further. He stated “Maybe, but we might amend this to: say what needs to be said — don’t keep your mouth shut when you should speak on behalf of what’s right.” Shouldn’t he state what is right or correct information, before making his blanket statements.
He speaks of the University of Wyoming and their “the world needs more Cowboys” campaign. He insinuated that this was all male leaning and not inclusive. Please! It’s a mascot. I went to NAU, I’m not an actual Lumberjack. Lots of Wyoming kids go to Montana State in Bozeman. They are not actually Cats or cougars out killing deer. It’s a mascot. It’s a saying, we need more cowboy. We need more University of Wyoming graduates. We need more kids to take advantage of a great institution. A proud institution. I have lots of friends, whose daughters went to the University of Wyoming, and they love the fact that they are a Cowboy. Most people in the state are proud of the fact that our state motto is the Wyoming Cowboys And they love being Cowboys, free, accepting an all inclusive. The Equality State. I served in the US Navy and traveled all over the World. But I came home to the Cowboy State for a reason! It’s the Equality State. The author of this article needs to get out of the classroom and travel this great state. And who knows maybe he will discover his inner Cowboy as well.
Well written sir. My thoughts to a T. Maybe the author needs more Cowbell…
Thanks, David. Well said.
Bravo. Yes, if folks were a little more thoughtful and kind toward themselves and all others. Thank you for the alternative readings. And yes to not acting like everything and everyone is for sale.
Kudos, David. I wish this could be printed out and displayed on every desk when the Wyoming Legislature convenes in 2026.
Thank you, David
Dear Mr. Romtvedt,
Thanks for writing and posting this well-thought piece.
As I’ve spent the last five years living summers in Wyoming and then returning for the rest of the year to my birth and home state of Florida, my personal perspective as a woman will have a couple different influences in terms of culture–sadly, I must admit that there are similarities between both states’ issues regarding equality for women.
While the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics has data that reflects that as recently as 2023, women in Florida earned 87.9 percent of what men earned at the same rate, there are difficulties and room for change in the Sunshine State as well. I’ve had the honor of knowing several women who own their own businesses in Florida–who according to The Florida Scorecard which sources data from the U.S. Census Bureau, we seem to be #2 in the nation for women-owned businesses with employees. These numbers do not reflect an easy existence for these business owners. They still must grapple with old prejudices especially when dealing with contractors, family needs and local and state policies.
While working in Wyoming, I’ve also been able to witness how women-owned and operating small businesses fare in the Cowboy State culture–I am encouraged by the fact that many have the silent but strong support of their men whether they are partners, brothers, fathers and even just old high school friends. Hard-working women in service jobs and on ranches can encounter some ill-natured behavior by men but can also encounter more chivalry given the cowboy code than one will ever see in the city-saturated pennisula of Florida.
The points you brought up regarding what Wyoming embraces as its visual icons and verbal proverbs are well-written in explaining why they in their current form can omit focusing on “equality for all.” Thanks also for the wonderful ideas and visualization of having Lady Justice ride beside the Cowboy (and Cowgirl) as well.
Our entire nation could work on helping make things more equal for women in terms of pay and overall respect—I would just like to offer that, in my humble opinion, Wyoming is doing pretty good and will hopefully continue to improve as everyone learns more and sifts through the data of what is going on in these numbers and categories that affect our perception and understanding of “equality for all.”
Great opinion piece, thanks again.
~R.V.S.B.