This paper contends that women are as vital as men to the functioning of western ranches where cattle raising--or cattle culture--is central to the social system. The self-sufficient nuclear family is also emphasized, and a ranch couple is described as a business as well as a domestic partnership. Ranch women have four roles: rearing children, teaching ranch skills, and ensuring family continuation; raising cattle by participating as full cowhand and as ranch accountant, coordinator, and administrator; maintaining social relationships and cooperation among family and neighbors through hospitality; and representing the ranch and family in business and social matters where performance reflects on the family. Early Spanish and Mexican culture--in which women owned property, made contracts, and held community property--influenced the development of an active role for women in cattle culture. Each generation has adapted this role to its needs, resulting in the present definition of a ranch family as a partnership and of women's role as an integration of economic and social function, of instrumental purpose and symbolic expression. (LFL)