Achievement and Advancement: Crawford Speaks on International Women’s Day Ideals
By: Jolee Jordan
International Women’s Day (IWD) may have begun in Europe better than a century ago, but American cowgirls had been roping, ranching and competing alongside their male counterparts long before the struggle for women’s equality became an organized movement.
Today, IWD is set for March 8 with the purpose of celebrating the achievements of women across society and to inspire further advancements for the so-called fairer sex.
The rodeo world doesn’t have to look far for its own inspirational stories; it is filled with strong women—pioneers like Margaret Owens, Wanda Bush, and Betty Gayle Cooper–who’ve blazed a wide trail, leaving today’s cowgirls with opportunities not only to compete in events they love, but to be able to make money while doing so.
And the struggle is still on-going but moving ahead thanks, in part, to current stars like Jackie Crawford.
Crawford is a living icon, a fierce competitor with a long resume of wins inside the arena and a well-earned reputation as an outspoken advocate for women in the sport.
For Crawford, becoming an innovator in rodeo was not on her radar as a young girl growing up in Illinois. A move as a teen to Oklahoma brought a new found passion for roping which, when coupled with an unparalleled work ethic, soon landed the driven woman in the limelight as a youth, high school and collegiate champion.
The achievement side came naturally but leading a movement to bring another major rodeo event for women into the very male dominated sport was actually a by-product of a special upbringing.
“I feel like I was so fortunate to have a mom who literally made me feel that there was nothing I couldn’t do,” Crawford, 41, said of her mother, Annette.
The influence just can’t be overstated for the 23-time Women’s Pro Rodeo Association (WPRA) World Champion.
“As far as parenting, moms who are passing on that type of belief in the daughters is just huge.”
“And it was nothing against men,” Crawford continued. “It was just that belief that there were no limitations on you as a person . . . and Mom always pushed me to not be scared of anything.”
Those lessons have served the legend well as she’s gathered up accolades across the industry with her ropes. And they’ve come in handy as Crawford parents her own children, Kaydence, Creed, and Journey.
“With Journey, she’s still pretty young,” Crawford noted. In fact, Crawford won the 2020 WPRA World Championship during the first ever Wrangler National Finals Breakaway Roping (NFBR) in December of that year while six months pregnant with her youngest kid. “But I just always try to encourage her, no matter what she’s doing, that YES YOU CAN. You’re a strong girl.”
Step-daughter Kaydence Crawford is in college now and Crawford has applied the same attitude to helping her succeed in the arena and in life.
“I just want to instill in them to always think highly of their capabilities and know that nothing can stand in their way.”
Nothing has stood in Crawford’s sure-to-be Hall of Fame career, from World Championships across multiple events in the WPRA, to winning nearly every major jackpot and rodeo available outside of it.
And helping bang down the doors for events that weren’t always available to breakaway ropers, like at The American Rodeo. Crawford was a savvy and staunch advocate for the event’s inclusion in the unique million-dollar rodeo from its beginning, using her access as the wife of a competitor (her National Finals Rodeo husband Charly is pretty handy with a rope himself) to point out the obvious: breakaway is a financial boon to any event and a crowd pleaser.
Thanks to Crawford and others, The American added the breakaway and, just a few years later, Crawford became the first breakaway roper to share in the $1 million bonus as she won her second straight championship.
Crawford has not only terrorized her female competitors, she’s also beat up on the boys. She’s the first woman to qualify for The American Semi-Finals in the top 20 in the Team Roping and she’s proved her worth in the blossoming rope horse futurity industry, too, as the first women to qualify for the American Rope Horse Futurity Finals back in 2022.
“A lot of goals, yes,” Crawford said when asked if she saw a slowdown in her career coming.
But her heart is still inside the arena, and though she’s competed in three of the four Wrangler NFBRs so far–and has been on the forefront of breakaway roping’s explosion into ProRodeo—she’s seeing worthwhile opportunities without having to live on the rodeo road.
“There’s an end game with ProRodeo for me,” Crawford noted, “strictly because of all the opportunities out there outside of ProRodeo.”
“Other producers and associations are really embracing breakaway and we’re getting to do so much with those events that I can think about slowing down, being home more with my family, but still being able to be relevant and make money.”
The World Champions Rodeo Alliance (WCRA) holds a special place in the hearts of all breakaway ropers as one of those groups. From its inception, WCRA has given breakaway ropers equal footing with the other events for big payouts and they launched the Women’s Rodeo World Championships, the world’s most lucrative women’s only rodeo event.
True to form, Crawford was there at the WCRA’s first $1 million major, the Windy City Round-Up in January 2019 and she made history, clinching the first $50,000 payday on one calf in the history of the sport.
“To me, that was the turning point,” Crawford said, who also won the WRWC’s first All Around title and is the reigning heeling champ. “Getting to be in the mix there with the other events on an equal playing field . . . that’s what shattered the glass ceiling for the breakaway ropers.”
“Everyone took note of the breakaway at that event and the positive impact it had on the industry.”
Thankfully, Crawford has only seen the path upward during her career and will continue to be the leader long past International Women’s Days to come.
