The following story originally appeared on the website for the Institute for Integrative Conservation. – Ed.

“I would like to think that women have the added advantage of a great ability to trust their intuition, which is a great attribute to have in ranger work. This coupled with our ability to bring our cultural knowledge to conservation efforts helps us cultivate a deep and meaningful connection with nature.”

SORALO woman ranger

Globally, women rangers play a unique and important role in wildlife conservation.

In the South Rift Valley of Kenya, rangers monitor wildlife and ecosystems in protected areas and communal lands to balance human activity and safety with environmental protection. Here, a team of women rangers is applying perspective and expertise distinctive to Maasai women, and their insightful approach to conservation is helping wildlife and communities of the valley thrive. 

In summer 2024, a team of William & Mary and Kenyan students garnered conservation and life lessons from these strong women role models. 

A collaborative, interdisciplinary research partnership

The South Rift Association of Land Owners (SORALO), with the support of Conservation Nation’s “People and Pachyderms” Collective, is expanding a long-standing ranger program to be shaped by and inclusive of women.

To ensure a successful ranger program that maximizes positive impact on conservation, communities, and the lives of the women rangers and their families, SORALO and Conservation Nation teamed up with the William & Mary Institute for Integrative Conservation (IIC) to research perspectives of women rangers on how to best structure ranger programs to achieve these goals.

The idea to explore this critical research topic surfaced out of an innovative Institute for Integrative Conservation and Conservation Nation adult education certificate program for women leaders connected to the People & Pachyderms Collective. The research came together through a highly collaborative process that involved input, support, and mentorship of the three organizations through all stages of the research, from design to analysis, with each organization uniquely contributing to the research success.

William & Mary students Corinne Boyd ’26 and Jana Smith-Perry ’25 joined Kenyan student and SORALO Research Assistant Ketito “Cynthia” Kileken in the South Rift Valley to design and conduct a study to inform how ranger programs can be inclusive and responsive to the multifaceted contributions and corresponding needs of rangers and trainees who are women.

The research is part of the IIC Conservation Research Program (CRP), a flagship William & Mary undergraduate program in which students conduct applied, integrative research in collaboration with conservation partners.

Over the course of the year-long project, the student researchers were mentored by William & Mary’s Mara Dicenta, an assistant professor of anthropology and integrative conservation, and Erica Garroutte, director of the CRP. The students received essential research and cultural guidance from SORALO’s team, including Mercy Waithira (information training & Communications lead), Helen Kayiaa (inclusion and gender lead), and Pheona Meneto (data analyst). 

Conservation Nation’s co-CEO’s Lynn Mento and Tricia Reilly, Collectives Director Jamie Palumbo, Communications Director Susan Winslow and the People & Pachyderms Collective Champions and certificate program participants all contributed mentorship on the project.

SORALO, a non-governmental organization with a mission to maintain a healthy and connected landscape for people and wildlife, supports Maasai communities with implementation of local conservation models that promote co-existence of people and wildlife, integrate Indigenous culture and conservation and empower communities in the South Rift Valley. 

“SORALO strongly believes that successful conservation efforts are community-led. We combine a great mix of science, Maa culture and traditional knowledge to support communities in protecting their land, ensuring a future where people, their livestock, and wildlife coexist,” said John Kamanga, SORALO executive director.

The students became an integral part of the SORALO research team, which took a mixed methods approach to the research, which included semi-structured interviews, focus groups, visual reflections, and environmental and organizational participant observation. Working with SORALO, the students identified patterns gleaned from participant observation and themes that emerged in the interview responses from community leaders and both women and men rangers.

Perhaps most importantly, the students left feeling empowered by the mentorship of Massai women in leadership roles, learning paradoxically that in conservation there is no need to qualify positions by gender, but that conservation thrives from the unique contributions of women. 

Forging new paths for women conservation leaders 

“Having stayed with them and learned from them about changing women’s roles, I am reminded that the world is changing and that as a woman I can create change and increase opportunities for other women in the world.”

Cynthia Kileken

Culture and tradition strongly influence the definition of specific roles for men and women, guiding what they may do at home and in society. In the South Rift Valley, Maasai women are forging new roles and carving out new places for women as cultural and conservation leaders.

Maasai women play a unique and vital role in environmental conservation, but they have historically been excluded from decision-making processes and implementation of conservation actions, management strategies, and policies. Though gender roles have been diversifying, opportunities for women to serve as rangers or game scouts have been limited. The SORALO rangers program positions women as equals in a job traditionally reserved for men.

SORALO rangers collect information on wildlife through field observations and sightings. They attend community meetings to create awareness of wildlife and conservation, help communities needing help with wildlife control and human-wildlife conflict and, when needed, provide first aid to humans injured by wildlife.

All rangers undergo training in ecology and conservation techniques, gaining valuable knowledge and skills that allow them to make meaningful contributions to environmental efforts. The program provides formal employment in conservation and grants professional and leadership recognition, which strengthens the acceptance of Maasai women’s roles in the conservation field and enables their conservation contributions.

Women and men working together as ranger teams

“A ranger is a ranger. Both men and women rangers undertake the same role and the same training in their ranger positions. Both men and women also value their community roles and their duties and positions as parents.”

Silvia Nashipae, SORALO ranger

A key takeaway from the SORALO program is that there is no distinction between men and women rangers when it comes to defining and implementing the work of a ranger.

Women rangers acquire the same skills, perform the same duties and meet the same expectations as men rangers. In the SORALO program all rangers are located on a single ranger base. Women rangers have the same voice and authority as male rangers. Men and women train together and work together to achieve common ranger goals, and this strengthens the teamwork of the rangers.

The students shadowed men and women rangers on scouts, patrols, school visits, and community outreach trips. They also participated in the rangers’ rigorous physical training program in which men and women work out side-by-side. 

Training with the rangers gave the students critical insight on the level of skill, fitness, and commitment the women rangers have.

“The workouts! We got up before sunrise to train with the women and men and ended up running like five kilometers and we were doing pushups and everything in between,” said Boyd. “Working out with them was like a rite of passage. I felt that we connected, and gaining that trust was such an honor.” 

Maasai women bring a unique perspective to conservation

“Maasai people believe they cannot tell a story of their savannah without the wildlife and this really motivates women to take care of wildlife. In the identity of Maasai people, there is no existence without coexistence.”

Cynthia Kileken

A major research finding was that the perspectives of women rangers are distinctly women’s perspectives, and this distinction positions women to contribute to the field of conservation in novel ways.

The Maasai are pastoral people who live close to the land and wildlife. Because of this, they acutely experience environmental change and conflict. Maasai women are closely in touch with their families, their communities, their livestock, and the environment, so they are often the first to notice when something is wrong. As caretakers of livestock and communities, they apply the same nurturing mindset to conservation, with remarkable results. 

Rangers are recognized for having expertise in wildlife law and policy. The ranger uniform validates the knowledge and expertise of a ranger and increases the level of respect for them. Maasai women are highly trusted and recognized as peacemakers, capable of facilitating environmental mediation and conflict resolution without being seen as enforcers. A Maasai woman in a ranger uniform garners respect from the community as both a ranger and a woman. 

“Women rangers are recognized and involved in decision making, and as positive influencers in conservation, women rangers in uniform are respected more and listened to by the community,” said SORALO ranger Corporal Silvia Nashipae.

One important takeaway for students was that a woman ranger does not shed her identity as a woman or the significant roles she plays outside of her ranger duties. In fact, maintaining these multiple identities is a strength for both the woman and the community, as well as for conservation efforts. This highlights the importance of having practices and support systems in place that accommodate women, which are essential for the success of both conservation and the community.

“At W&M, we often introduce ourselves by explaining our major or what clubs/positions we hold, and that can sort of box us in,” said Boyd. “The women we interviewed in Kenya emphasized the importance of their identity as Maasai women with important societal roles. This was truly impactful because it served as a powerful reminder that we all embody multiple identities — whether as women, students, scientists or in other roles — and that these identities come together to shape who we are.”

Woman to woman mentorship

“I am a mother of two and I am also a woman ranger. I feel proud to be breaking barriers and showing other women that we can excel in roles traditionally dominated by men.”  

Esther Salaite, SORALO ranger

For many women, entering ranger training at SORALO is an important starting point for a career in conservation or other sectors. Women rangers also see the empowering ripple effect of the ranger program, which is both lateral and generational. Ranger work strengthens women’s leadership and their roles in communities, and creates a promising path for their children, particularly for their daughters. As one woman ranger stated: “If (she grows her) family will also grow.”

This ripple of empowerment extends to the students who were able to learn professional and life lessons from the Maasai women rangers. W&M students had a multicultural experience learning firsthand from Maasai women in Kenya, which gave them beyond-the-classroom exposure to different types of leadership, the important role of community in conservation, and what it means to be a woman conservation leader, spawning reflection on their roles as women, scientists, and conservation practitioners. As emerging women in conservation, the mentoring experience with the rangers had a personal impact on the students:

“Maasai roots are in communalism and collaboration,” said Boyd. “They wake up every day and do stuff in the community. and they do it because they love it, not necessarily because they’re being championed for it. It inspired me to better myself and better what is around me.  Everyone there was so connected and appreciative of who and what was around them, and this changed me. In Kenya it is never you against the world.” 

“It was such an amazing and unique experience,” said Smith-Perry. “It was really exciting for me as an economics major to be able to contribute to conservation, and I have learned so much from the rangers about what women’s leadership can be in any field.”

“My experience has really helped me understand that it is possible to work and conserve the land with some very important parts of culture that we cannot do without,” said Kileken. “It is possible to make a positive change in the society if we work together with people and wildlife, with good role models and positive decisions influencing our communities.” 

Conservation is ‘women’s work’

Perspectives, approaches and skill sets unique to women are influential in communities and are critically needed in conservation globally. Women are moving professionally into the conservation sector without abandoning their roles as mothers, daughters, sisters, wives, and partners because they value those roles, and it is those roles that imbue their unique perspectives on conservation.

Maasai women rangers have demonstrated the importance of elevating the important lessons of women conservation leaders. These vanguards are reshaping conservation on the ground and changing how women are conceived as leaders in conservation and other fields. Through the support and partnership of SORALO, Conservation Nation, and the Institute for Integrative Conservation, Kenyan and W&M students learned that the diverse identities of women are a tremendous strength, enhancing the knowledge and skill behind any practice.

“Conservation Nation was proud to support this critical research in best practices in female ranger programs through our People & Pachyderms Collective, a program dedicated to protecting elephants and rhinos while empowering young women in East Africa,” said Jamie Palumbo, collectives director of Conservation Nation.

“In working with the William & Mary and SORALO students, we were impressed with how the team approached this research with thoughtfulness, cultural sensitivity, and a commitment to collaboration and flexibility. We look forward to seeing the impact of this research as it supports SORALO’s expansion of, and commitment to, the female ranger program. Outside of the direct impacts on this program, we see this research as a means of inspiring future programs and greater opportunities for women in conservation.”

Empowering women in conservation is a multifaceted process that involves integrating women into conservation framing, decision-making, implementation and leadership while also transforming the field to embrace the unique knowledge and perspectives that women contribute. The SORALO women rangers are inspiring women worldwide with the promise that an inclusive, empowering, women-focused, women-mentored, women-benefiting conservation is a conservation that serves all. Strong women ranger programs set strong examples for women in Kenya and beyond. This research helps to ensure that as women ranger programs grow, they be as dynamic and adaptable as the women rangers themselves.

“The work is challenging but rewarding, as I actively contribute to the preservation of our environment and the protection of wildlife. It gives me a sense of empowerment to know that my efforts help support both the community and the natural world around us,” said Esther Salaite, SORALO ranger.

The Institute for Integrative Conservation was created to support integrative approaches that balance human well-being with biodiversity conservation and has a mission to empower an inclusive community of thought leaders to create and deliver timely, innovative solutions to the world’s most pressing conservation challenges.

The 2025 William & Mary Year of the Environment highlights W&M’s commitment to healthy ecosystems and communities locally and around the world through programs like the IIC Conservation Research Program. The program is made possible through the generous support of donors, parents, and the IIC community.

For more information about the SORALO rangers program, contact Guy Western, gwestern@soralo.org. For more information about Conservation Nation programs and the People & Pachyderms Collective, contact Jamie Palumbo, Jamie@Conservationnation.org