Women in Racing (WiR) has become the latest signatory of IWG’s Brighton plus Helsinki Declaration, highlighting their on-going commitment to supporting and developing the British horseracing industry’s female employees.

The Declaration is an internationally recognised treaty comprising 10 principles to support the ongoing development of a more fair and equitable system of sport and physical activity, fully inclusive of women and girls. The signing took place during the Women in Racing Summit at York Racecourse, with IWG’s Secretary General Lisa O’Keefe MBE also joining a panel discussion on “Work, Life & Winning: balancing career ambition, personal life and wellbeing”.

WiR is a network of professionals working across the sport of horseracing with the aim to enhance the profile and development of their peers, with a goal to introduce more women into racing and enrich the sport. Amongst their work, WiR offers an events programme, a bursary to support personal development and a mentoring programme with over 50 mentors from across the industry and beyond. They initiated the first piece of industry research that looked at equality and diversity in the sport in partnership with Oxford Brookes University and have since developed a research and implementation programme called Racing Home that pro-actively supports work-life balance and parenting in the racing industry. They have also recently been funded to conduct research into menopause in the horseracing industry, an industry first.

Lucy Gurney, Chair of Women in Racing, said: “We’re delighted to sign the IWG Women and Sport Brighton plus Helsinki declaration to further underline our commitment to supporting British horseracing’s female workforce.

“As WiR continues to grow we look forward to supporting more women through our mentoring and bursary programmes, events and research and culture change projects, including Racing Home and Menopause.”

Lisa O’Keefe MBE, Secretary General at IWG, said: “It was a pleasure to attend the Women in Racing Summit today, and to welcome WiR as the latest signatory of IWG’s Declaration.

“It was fascinating to hear what WiR understand about the experiences of women in their industry, and in particular the challenges at different life stages which result in so many women leaving the sport.  It was also impressive to hear what WiR and the racing industry are doing to address that loss of talent through the creation of resources and programmes to tackle the issues head on.

“As the global ‘network of networks’, our role is to ensure that knowledge of what works flows through the networks. WiR is a brilliant example of a network working collaboratively with the industry and its members to address the challenges and opportunities which have come to light through research, and not from anecdotes. They are striving to meet the needs of women from across the industry, providing useful resources for both employers and employees. Creating environments where women can thrive and talent is retained is not only the right answer, but it simply makes good business sense.

“I’m so pleased we are able to share the work of WiR with the wider IWG network.”

The Women in Racing Summit was generously sponsored by York Racecourse, RWK Goodman and Tattersalls and saw the launch of Mentors4Mums as part of the Racing Home programme, and the announcement of the industry’s first Menopause Workshops, led by Dr Kate Clayton Hathway and funded by FDJ United (Unibet) as part of a wider research piece focussing on menopause and mid-life.