On Wednesday 6 July Women in Racing hosted the Racing Home Launch event with Simply Racing to showcase the research and subsequent programme of work supporting racing’s employees and employers around parenthood. A panel, hosted by Dena Merson, Simply Racing’s Founder, featured Kindred Group’s Ed Nicholson, Gemma Ospedale from RWK Goodman, Dominique Tortice from NARS and Broadcaster Aly Vance.
The panel discussed personal experiences, the research findings, racing’s first motherhood/parenthood portal racinghome.org.uk, data collection, the return to riding programme and ongoing work to educate and empower all stakeholders.
In late 2021, key funding from the Racing Foundation and Kindred Group enabled Women in Racing to continue to work with stakeholders to implement a raft of measures to ensure that Horseracing can become a cultural leader in the sports world at supporting its participants in planning and raising a family. This measure is vital both for wellbeing and for the overall sustainability of the industry.
Watch the highlights video here
Balancing parenting with working in horseracing: know your rights & entitlements, and where to seek help & support
About Racing Home
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.
Don’t miss the Podcast
Search “Racing Home” on all major platforms
Hosted and produced by BHA Vet and Podcaster Naomi Mellor, the podcast has already welcomed Andrea O’Keeffe, Lizzie Kelly, Rose Grissell, Dominique Tortice, Amy Starkey and Claire Kubler, to name a few. Expect candid conversation, personal stories and an informative listen. Search “Racing Home” on all major podcast platforms or follow this link.