WPM: Women dominate Northern Arapaho Tribe casino workforce


The entrance to the Wind River Casino. Photo from Northern Arapaho Tribe

The Northern Arapaho Tribe of Wyoming is known for the large number of women in management and employment positions at the Wind River Hotel and Casino:
In fact, at the Wind River Casino--the largest employer in Fremont County--the female workforce is now almost 60 percent.

When Delinda Burning Breast started with the Wind River Casino ten years ago, it wasn’t even a casino--it was just a bingo hall.

“I was just a regular floor worker,” Burning Breast says. “Just like when they sell sheets for bingo.”

But it didn’t take long before she moved up to a floor supervisor. And then, after the casino opened, she moved into the finance office. Along the way, she got pay raises and benefits. Which helped when her husband couldn’t find work and ended up as a stay-at-home dad. That is, until two months ago when he passed away.

Burning Breast says she’s been taking her husband’s death pretty hard. But even though she felt dazed at work and spent a lot of time worrying about her kids, she needed to keep working to pay her bills. So that’s when her managers stepped in.

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