These films show a side of women that the viewer is not used to seeing in a western. The women portrayed in High Noon and The Ballad of Little Jo are very independent and less reliant on men. We first see this when Amy gives Marshal Will Kane an ultimatum. She puts him in a position to choose between his dumb pride, or her. When he declines she stands by her word up until the very end, and only because another woman convinced her to do otherwise. Ramirez shows a great deal of independence and also seems to be respected by everyone whom she interacts with. She tells off the deputy on numerous occasions, and follows up her words with action. She and Little Jo portray alpha male characteristics.
Little Jo shows that she is capable of being independent and alpha male like, but in a different way then Ramirez and Amy. She has to pretend to be a man in order to be treated the way she wants to be treated. She doesn't provide an example for women, she never lets anyone know who she really is. Nonetheless, killing and working off the land are jobs thought only capable of being completed by men and she managed to do these things without being raised to do so like the men around her.
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