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Clip description
Bernie compares the nature of a male jockey’s career to her own. Former champion Roy Higgins reveals his concerns about female riders going head-to-head with male ‘kamikaze’ jockeys. A race writer wonders whether women are aggressive enough, while trainer Betty Lane doesn’t believe women need brute strength to be successful. Former Commissioner of Community Relations, Al Grassby, explains the characteristics of covert discrimination.
Curator’s notes
It’s very difficult for women to break into male-dominated fields. Much of the discrimination against women jockeys goes unsaid because more overt, spoken discrimination is against the law. There isn’t any evidence that men are better than women in horseracing but it will be a long time before this is admitted by the vast majority of men involved in the sport. If women jockeys are successful, some men see this as belittling the achievements of male jockeys. There are many women that compete and do very well in dressage so it’s obvious that they can handle horses. Despite this, horseracing remains one of the last male bastions.
