World Female Ranger Day Date in the current year: June 23, 2024

Rangers, also known as park rangers, forest rangers or park wardens, are professionals charged with protecting and preserving protected areas such as parklands and forests. Their main goal is to protect parklands and their visitors, but the exact duties of park rangers may vary depending on where exactly they work.

Tasks performed by rangers may include enforcing park regulations and laws protecting wildlife and the environment, providing informational services to park visitors, working with local communities, performing maintenance of equipment, facilities and infrastructure, patrolling wilderness areas, acting as emergency responders, fighting wildfires, protecting wildlife from threats such as poaching, and more.

The work of rangers, especially in developing countries where poaching is a major problem, can be very physically demanding and dangerous, so it is not surprising that it is considered a traditionally male job. Less than 11% of the world’s rangers are women, but they are just as good at their job as their male colleagues. They show strength, resilience, and readiness to face dangers and put their lives on the line to protect wildlife.

Today, at least 18 African countries have successful female anti-poaching teams. These women not only protect the precious wildlife, including endangered species, but are the breadwinners of their households. According to National Geographic, working women in developing countries invest 90% of their income in their households, ensuring that their families have food on the table. In many regions of Africa, a single ranger’s salary may support up to 16 family members.

Many of female rangers have overcome adversity, marginalization and poverty to succeed in a role that is considered traditionally male, prove that women can achieve their goals, and inspire young girls and women to make their dreams come true. There is no doubt that they deserve to be celebrated.

World Female Ranger Day was started in 2021 by How Many Elephants, a UK-based registered charity founded by Holly Budge to raise awareness of the devastating impacts of the African elephant ivory trade and raise funds for female rangers in African countries. Its main goals are to recognize the important and hard work that female rangers do, celebrate them as role models, improve their access to the resources they need to do their jobs effectively, and increase the number of female rangers.

There are many ways to get involved with World Female Ranger Day. You can learn more about the important work that female rangers do and the unique challenges they face, donate to an organization that supports female rangers, organize a fundraiser or an educational event at your local school or community center, give a shout-out to female wildlife rangers on social media, and spread the word using the hashtags #WFRD, #WorldFemaleRangerDay and #WorldFemaleRangerWeek.