In Western film scenes, especially those introducing the main (male) figure of this genre - the cowboy ­ women mostly appear as marginal figures or they are even strangely absent from the overall image. Female eharaeters tend to stay on the side while the male aetors are in the eentre of attention. My study aims at providing an overview of the represenation of female characters in Western films from the time of the start of the "heydays" of this genre (around 1930) until the time of relatively eontemporary productions (around 1980/mid-1990s). I would like to prove that the stereotypical representaion of women in Western films has hardly changed during this time-span of half a century. The depietion of female characters finds its basic (historical) origins in the so-called westward movement or emigration to the American West during the 19th century. The facts of the historical reality of women s lives on treks westwards and of their Iives on the frontier were interpreted by both historiography and by narrative literature (Captivity novels, Frontier novels, Dime novels). Historian Frederick Jackson Turner, for example, saw the westward movement as the most influential factor in American history in general and interpreted the entire American history according to it, Men and women left personal reminiscences (journals, diaries, letters) of their experiences during their journeys/emigration into the West and of their settling on the Western frontier. These two forms of factual origins were taken over by narrative literature and later by the Western genre and interpreted according to the needs and expectations of audiences, whieh mainly wanted to be entertained. Written mostly by men and for men, the representation of characters in the Western genre concentrated on male figures instead of granting warnen an equal share of attention, although warnen had taken an active role in the westward movement. Thereby changing and interpreting relaity of Old West circumstances and representing warnen (and men) as stereotyped versions of real human beings and their lives during that vital period in the American West.