 They promoted a new vision of the American woman, one who was both domestic and athletic, and Workman took to this image with enthusiasm.By 1886, women sometimes outnumbered men on hiking expeditions in New England.In her paper on the gender dynamics of climbing in the region, Jenny Ernie-Steighner states that this formative experience shaped Workman's commitment to women's rights, pointing out that "no other well-known international mountaineers of the time, male or female, spoke as openly and fervently about women's rights".