Women in Racing: Pens Mightier Than Swords

I like this one! For me, it's Classroom to Windows LOL And Wiz - you ARE impossible!

Women in Racing: From the Classroom to Career
by Scott Jagow
Paulick Report

I knew it would be hard going, but I didn’t realize how hard. In the early fifties there was considerable prejudice against women going into what was considered “men’s fields.” I became especially conscious of this feeling when… I went to the dean of the University of Pennsylvania Veterinary School… He scowled at me and bellowed, “What would a hundred-pound girl like you do if you had to handle a thousand-pound bull?” I retorted, “Exactly what a two-hundred-pound man would do — I’d sedate him.” – Excerpt from “No Job for a Lady”

When M. Phyllis Lose, the nation’s first woman equine veterinarian, looked around her graduating vet school class of 1957, she saw only one female face among 50. And that woman was studying to be a small animal veterinarian.

“The idea of a woman being an equine practitioner was regarded as absurd,” Lose wrote in her 1979 autobiography, No Job for a Lady. “Women, I was often told, were not strong enough to handle horses and no one would entrust a valuable animal to a woman veterinarian.”

Today, not only are women entrusted with high-priced Thoroughbreds and other breeds, they are taking over the field of veterinary medicine, equine and otherwise. By 2009, female veterinarians outnumbered their male counterparts, according to the American Veterinary Medical Association, and in any given year, about 80 percent of veterinary school seats are occupied by women.

The trend goes beyond vet school. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, more than 90% of Bachelor’s degrees in equine/equestrian studies are going to women.

“There are 187 colleges and universities in America that have some sort of equine program, and the preponderance of the students in those programs are females,” said Tim Capps, director of the Equine Industry Program at the University of Louisville.

The reasons for such a dramatic shift in recent decades are numerous, starting with Title IX, the 1972 amendment that outlawed gender discrimination in federally funded education. Since then, the percentage of women seeking degrees has climbed to the point where enrollment is about 60-40 female at U.S. colleges, and many areas of study that were previously male-dominated — law, business, science — are far more equal if not female-driven in some cases.

But beyond general education trends, there seems to be something specific about women and horses. While young girls have access to a wide range of sports, riding is still the activity of choice for girls far more than boys in certain parts of the country. As they grow up, they compete in various riding disciplines, and that experience might inform their educational decisions.

“I would argue that maybe women pick majors for their passion — they love horses, so they choose equine science,” said Elizabeth LaBonty, equine lecturer and internship coordinator at the University of Kentucky. “When you look at what motivates men to choose their majors, they might be more driven by what their potential career might be.”

Kate Ellis, a recent graduate of Louisville’s equine business program, said she was bitten by the “horse bug” at a young age, like many of her friends, and while she went to an engineering/technology school for her undergrad degree, she followed her passion for horses to Louisville.

“For my undergrad, I went to a school that was 70 percent men,” Ellis said. “The riding club had 30 women and two men in it, if that puts some perspective into how many women are in the show industry.”

The racing industry has taken note of these trends, too, and has tapped into the knowledge and experience of women with equine backgrounds. Just look around the backstretch these days or visit a farm in Central Kentucky, says Tim Capps.

“One of the things that I’ve observed over the years is that the men who ran places, breeding farms, whatever, figured out that women were often quite good with horses,” he said. “Not only that they have an affinity for them, but they were more patient than guys. They would stick with stuff and show up every day. They were reliable.”

There’s even more potential for the racing business to benefit from women who know horses but haven’t been exposed to the sport. When Kate Ellis came Louisville, despite her horsey childhood, she knew nothing about racing.

“It got me into racing,” she said of the equine program. “I figured I would come and learn the equine part and then be in the show industry or own a barn myself, something like that. I didn’t really expect to be captured by it, but I was.”

Ellis is now a marketing analyst for Churchill Downs, where she says women are bringing a fresh perspective to promoting the racing experience with initiatives like the new Family Adventure Day.

“We can say those things, what about the families? What about instead of just dad coming out to wager, we make it open and welcome to bring the whole family,” Ellis said. “Then what we hope for by bringing the kids to the track, they remember it as a good, fun thing they’ve done, and they might want to come back and maybe become involved in the industry as they grow up.”

Furthermore, according to Capps, recent market research suggests young women are actually more likely than young men to say they could get interested in racing. He said creating appealing social and entertainment environments, as some tracks have done successfully, is a good model for reaching a wider audience.

“If I’m running the marketing for a racing operation today, I’d very much like to have women in the forefront of that operation,” Capps said. “They’re going to think more about how to find that broader demographic because they connect with it.”

One issue that remains, however, is that men still hold most of the top-level positions at tracks, farms, and industry organizations. Ellis sees that, but she also sees positive signs for the future.

“I’ve been encouraged by my bosses to develop relationships with women who are in the industry, to learn from them and see how they’ve been successful in an industry dominated by men,” she said.

The University of Kentucky’s Elizabeth LaBonty said a big question in the next few years will be whether the women who now make up the graduating classes of equine and other degree programs begin to take over more leadership roles in the industry. She believes helping students turn their passion for horses into practical career-oriented, business thinking is important in that respect, and so are role models like the ones she had when she began pursing an equine career.

“I think seeing them and getting to knowing them, and seeing that they could have families and be in the industry and be successful, for me, was really inspirational,” LaBonty said. “And I think the more young students can get to know people like that, the more they feel it is possible to have a career in the industry.”