The Racing Home project, funded by the Racing Foundation, has as its core objective the improvement of the working lives of parents and carers in the horseracing industry. It seeks to ensure that all employees have an understanding of their basic rights and entitlements and can talk openly about the challenges they experience as a working mother, father, or carer. Rather than a taboo subject, their needs can be embraced inclusively by racing’s employers who will see the benefits of investing in the quality of life of parents, both in terms of retention, a more motivated workforce and overall sustainability.
Education is a large part of Racing Home and by leading the way through signposting and highlighting good working practices around motherhood ,Women in Racing will help make racing more accessible and enjoyable for our participants. This will play a part in transforming a more traditional culture and mindset, thus attracting people from outside the sport to join the racing family.
The Origins
The ’Racing Home’ project began with a symposium in November 2019 and was followed up by a series of successful workshops and webinars leading to a research-based project led by Dr. Kate Clayton-Hathway of the Centre for Diversity Policy Research and Practice, Oxford Brookes University. The discussions with participants from all aspects of horseracing were used as a basis to collate data around the experiences of motherhood and parenting and expanded to include the views of a wide range of stakeholders. Participants were asked to suggest any solutions they felt would contribute to mitigating both practical barriers for working mothers as well as less tangible ones within our sport. These findings were collated and developed into a series of recommended ‘next steps’ for the industry in discussion with key stakeholders. The findings formed the report ‘Racing Home, Working Mothers in the Horseracing Industry’ which was published late last year.
The Programme
Vital funding from the Racing Foundation and Kindred Group has enabled Women in Racing, supported by Simply Racing, to implement the practical and educational recommendations from the report. This includes essential work developing and digitising a transparent ‘Racing Home’ portal allowing online industry access to racing-specific and general material around motherhood. This Portal has become a place whereby employers and employees and the self-employed can turn for questions/answers about anything motherhood/parenthood related.
Data is currently been collected around different aspects of parenthood by Dr Clayton – Hathway to establish how the industry can further support parents and carers.
Education modules are being developed for racing schools, academies and industry courses so that the generations entering the sport can be informed and engage in discussions positively with their peers and colleagues.
Women returning from childbirth are being encouraged to join a pilot rehabilitation and returning to riding programme with physios at Injured Jockey Fund centres, focusing on the physical and mental aspects of helping them get back on a horse.
Good practice videos and podcasts are being rolled out which focus on the challenges and start the conversation, helping remove feelings of isolation. Theses materials are educative and forward looking.
Female topics like menopause and IVF are also being brought out into open discussion, and making people feel included and listened to.
Finally, there will be coffee mornings, and webinars taking place, where people can be heard and share experiences. Racing Home is for all parents, working anywhere in the sport and it is already making a difference in the six months since its official launch.
Women in Racing (Racing Home Lead), Tallulah Lewis said: “We are absolutely thrilled to have been awarded funding from the Racing Foundation and Kindred Group who have support the ‘Racing Home’ project since its inception. We are very grateful for the continued recognition by these two organisations and their support in us delivering a more sustainable and welcoming racing industry for working mothers and parents. We are ready to get stuck in and work with the industry stakeholders to deliver these actions and look forward to sharing the results with you.”
Rob Hezel, Racing Foundation Chief Executive said: “Racing is enormously reliant on its people as well as its horses and retaining dedicated staff is vital for long-term prosperity. The Racing Home project has the potential to revolutionise how parents and mothers are supported to stay in the industry and can enable racing to become a leader in this field across the sporting landscape.”
Ed Nicholson, Head of Kindred Racing Communications and Sponsorship said: “We are delighted to be able to support the important work Women in Racing are doing to benefit women in the horseracing industry. At Kindred, we strongly believe that a diverse workforce enhance our performance, and we focus on improving our diversity across the group. We know that Women in Racing are instrumental to raising the awareness of diversity in the racing industry and we are pleased to be able to support the delivery of concrete actions to enhance the wellbeing of the industry.”
Dr Kate Clayton-Hathway, Research Fellow at Oxford Brookes University said: “Family life and caring are at the heart of employee well-being, and the research report recommendations we are helping to implement will share good practice that benefits and supports both employees and employers. We are excited to be joining Women in Racing, Simply Racing and the horseracing industry on this next stage in their journey.”
With grateful thanks to Racing Foundation, Kindred Group (Unibet) and The Alborada Trust for which withour whom this work would not be possible.
