According to federal data from 2011, women make up 11 percent of the 13.7 million people who hunt for sport nationwide, but according to the State Department of Environmental Conservation, that number is on the rise. In New York, about 9 percent of all licensed hunters are women, and advocates for the sport are hoping that a recent law passed in the state will attract even more women.
The law? In addition to traditional fluorescent orange, which must be worn for safety, hunters are now allowed to wear pink.
The safety rules technically only apply to junior hunters between the ages of 14 and 15 and their adult mentors. Because hunting is a traditionally male-dominated field, proponents are hoping the new rule will attract girls from a young age. “The more young women you can draw in, the better,” the president of a fish and game club told the New York Times. Lin Menninger, an avid hunter, added, “I think the pink is awesome; even the young girls like that.”
