As a novillero (or, in her case, novillera), Hayes was accepted by her peers, but as a professional, she had to overcome some sexism.
The issue was one that resonates in the United States today – she couldn’t get health insurance.
The bullfighters’ union provided hospital coverage, but the policies were written assuming the members were men. The union and Hayes finally reached a compromise – she was allowed to become a non-voting union member (and receive health coverage). She’d need the insurance, sustaining “bumps, bruises, broken ribs and brain concussion,” during her career as a matadora in Mexico, and later in Ecuador and Peru.
A competent, but not outstanding matador, Hayes’ international following was based in good part on her strikingly good looks and the relative novelty of a blond woman matador, earning her the sobriquet, the “Grace Kelly of the Bullring.” Although she received some financial support from her father, she was never able to earn the money she needed to support herself and retired in her early thirties.
After several years of wandering – in Latin America, Europe and Africa – and painting, Hayes did the unconventional for an unconventional woman, marrying theologian Richard Franklin and moving to the small Texas city of Temple.
Our thanks to Richard Grabman of Editorial Mazatlan for this information.
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