Following on from Women in Racing’s well received ‘Racing Home’ symposium late last year, the workshops for women across all areas of the sport aim to raise further awareness of challenges working mothers face in the UK horseracing industry. The regional workshops, through the sharing of experiences and the resulting discussions, will ensure a more comprehensive understanding of the decisions working women face daily. 

Regional Workshop Dates:

• Scotland – Ednam House Hotel, Kelso: Wed, 4^th March 2020, 12:00 – 3:00pm
• Midlands – Southwell Racecourse: Sun, 8^th March 2020, 10.30am – 1.30pm
• Newmarket – The Racing Centre: Mon, 23^rd March 2020, 12:00 – 3:00pm
• Lambourn – Oaksey House: Thurs, 26^th March 2020, 12:00 – 3:00pm
• Yorkshire – Pontefract Racecourse: Mon, 20^th April 2020, 10.30am -1.30pm
• London & South – Ascot Racecourse: Wed, 29^th April 2020, 10.30am -1.30pm

Each regional workshop will explore in depth how it feels to be a working mother in the horseracing industry, to understand the decision making that takes place, to explore the impact of returning to work after maternity leave and examine the role that men can play.

The impact of having children and the work/life balance are topics which women are often hesitant to discuss openly as they fear it could affect their career prospects and alter their employer’s, colleagues’ or management’s perception of them. The workshops will allow stud and stable staff, racecourse employees, jockeys, vets, trainers, administrators, indeed all participants of our sport to share their experiences and contribute. In tandem with research from Oxford Brookes the workshops aim to positively impact on the day to day lives of working women in the horseracing industry.

Women in Racing Chair, Tallulah Lewis said: “Women in Racing was founded to support women across all sectors of the sport. We are extremely excited to be taking our Racing Home project through to its next phase and provide a great opportunity for women working in the sport to be part of the conversation and raise awareness of this significant topic. We are absolutely delighted to have received a grant from The Racing Foundation and also sponsorship from The Kindred Group and Oxford Brookes University without whom we would not be able to continue this work. We will continue our work to highlight topics that we believe women across the sport face and help ensure that racing can benefit from the findings of this work in the years ahead.”

Rob Hezel, Racing Foundation Chief Executive said: “The Racing Foundation are delighted to support these events. At a time when racing is struggling to attract, recruit and retain staff and when the importance of diversity in the workplace has never been better understood, efforts to secure mothers within the workforce could not be more relevant. Having successfully worked with Women in Racing and Oxford Brookes University previously we are confident they will deliver a series of successful events which we hope will contribute to the evolution of employment practices within British racing.”

“At Kindred, we strongly believe that a diverse workforce enhances the quality of performance and decision-making, by covering different experiences and views. We aim to achieve a 50/50 gender split across our senior management by 2023, so we find this partnership to be hugely relevant. We focus on improving our diversity in many ways and believe this programme can help us learn more about how to ensure we keep female colleagues in the organisation. Women in Racing are doing a fantastic job at raising awareness of diversity in the Racing Industry and we are proud to support their future work”, said Anna Jein, Sustainability Manager at Kindred Group.

Dr Anne Laure Humbert, Director for the Centre for Diversity Policy Research and Practice at Oxford Brookes Business School said: “The Centre is excited to be working with Women in Racing on this important project. Exploring the challenges working mothers face in the British horseracing industry builds directly on our 2017 report – ‘Women’s representation and diversity in the horseracing industry’ – and gives us the opportunity to create new knowledge to inform employers about the support these women need.”

For more information and registration visit www.womeninracing.co.uk