Call it the feminization of Carnival. Since the turn of the 21st century, female participation in parading krewes has exploded. In the past 25 years, women have made it clear that they weren’t content just watching the masked menfolk roll by.
Female ridership is way up. On Friday, the first day of New Orleans’ official parading season, Cleopatra rolled down St. Charles Avenue with 3,200 women riders, just 50 fewer riders than the monster, all-male Endymion parade.
And on Mardi Gras weekend, an astonishing 3,700 women will populate 34 floats of the venerable Iris parade, making it the biggest Carnival procession of all. Probably of all time. Femme Fatale will roll with 1,400 masked women, and Muses will roll with 1,175…