World Female Ranger Week, by international NGO How Many Elephants, celebrates and supports female wildlife rangers.
Now held annually in June, the first World Female Ranger Week, in 2023, reached over 500 million viewers worldwide.
As champions of wildlife conservation, role models and educators, female rangers are changing attitudes towards the role of women by highlight the success of females in traditionally male roles.
That said, less than 11% of the global wildlife ranger workforce is female.
The founder of How Many Elephants and World Female Ranger Week, Holly Budge has patrolled with ranger teams across Africa and seen first-hand how these women are impacting lives.
The pandemic crippled tourism and funding for conservation projects globally. The lack of tourists visiting national parks led to many rangers losing their jobs or having significant salary cuts.
The knock-on effect of this was huge.
One ranger in Africa may support up to 16 family members and any reduced vigilance in tourist hotspots can leave wildlife even more vulnerable to poaching.
Female rangers patrol wilderness areas, day and night, monitor wildlife, seize snares, work with communities and in some cases, arrest poachers.
Some rangers are away from their families for long periods.
There are 4500 female rangers in 18 African countries
Holly and her team have identified over 4500 female rangers in 18 African countries so far, and over 5500 female rangers around the world, including in Guyana, Malaysia, Sri-Lanka, Indonesia, India and Tasmania.
Among these :
Pera Pinem, Indonesia
Pera was the only female ranger in North Sumatra for three years.
Through her work, she protects Sumatran elephants, orangutans and tigers and is actively working with local communities to reduce human/wildlife conflict.
To become a ranger, Pera had to go against her family and culture, as it was not deemed acceptable for women to be working in the jungle, let alone sleeping besides a man they're not married to or related to.
Pera has experienced much prejudice due to her decision to become a ranger but in doing so, has paved the way for other women to become rangers.
Mariani 'Bam' Ramli, Malaysia
Bam founded the Gibbon Conservation Society in Malaysia, in 2013 after meeting 'Ellek', a confiscated infant gibbon.
She found other gibbons in need and so sold her possessions and moved to a secluded estate to provide a natural home for them.
As Bam spoke out against gibbon ownership, she faced backlash, and some villagers labelled her as a 'witch'.
Over the last decade, Bam has faced great adversity in her fight for the gibbons but despite the hardship she has built a strong organization.
Today the Gibbon Conservation Society has two rehabilitation projects.
Grace Kotee, Liberia
Grace is a ranger in the East Nimba Nature Reserve in Liberia.
Growing up as a child in a rural village, Grace felt bad when she saw people killing and eating wildlife.
She promised she would do something to protect the forest resources of Liberia and the world at large.
Grace still battles social stigma as some of her community think that working as a ranger is not a feminine job and she is often criticized.
A few of the challenges Grace faces at work are discrimination from her male counterparts and limited time with my husband and family.
Claudia, Guyana
Claudia is a ranger from the South Rupununi Conservation Society.
Through education, research and conservation the society is dedicated to sustaining and protecting the threatened wildlife of the Rupununi.
Before she became a ranger Claudia was farming and her biggest challenge as convincing her village leader she could be a ranger even though she has a young baby."
Susan. Kenya
Susan is a ranger from Big Life Foundation whose family could not afford to pay for her secondary education.
She stayed at home and learnt traditional Maasai women's duties, but always wanted to do something more with her life.
In Maasai culture, like so many things, conservation and anti-poaching work has always been something that was done by men and girls are raised to become dutiful wives.
In her community, not many women receive a salary like Susan does and she is happy to be an example to other women and girls to prove that we can support our families just as well as men can.
She uses her salary to support my three children and her mother and is also saving to pay for school fees so as to finish the education I was not able to have as a girl."
Useful links
Holly Budge at