As one of the only sports where women and men compete with no gender barrier, equestrian is afairly progressive sport with modern ideas. There is no pay gap between men and women because every individual charges a differing amount for the services they provide. In the equestrian sport today approximately 71.7% of competitors are female. In the year 2020 a survey was conducted showing that 322,500 people competed in an equestrian competition; therefore approximately 231,232 of those competitors were female.

So why do we see so few women on the podiums in comparison to men?This all comes down to the men that choose our fate. In order to compete at these large shows, one must be selected as a team member or individual competitor. The vast majority of team selectors are male, often of a certain age. So these older men see a group of extremely talented riders. Most people nowadays would simply see these people for their talents and would select a team based on the rider’s merits and how deserving they are of a spot on the team, but these older men see a woman and a man and genuinely believe that a man would be the wiser choice based solely on the fact that he is a man and therefore stronger or superior. So these highly skilled and highly deserving women are passed over. This is why we see so few new female names in the likes of showjumping and eventing; because of how ridiculously hard it is to break through to the top elite level where your gender doesn’t affect your ability to bring a winning score to your team. This raises the question as to whether there is a gender discrimination against women within the community of competitors, trainers and service providers. In my opinion, these team selectors don’t pass over women because they are prejudiced against women particularly but possibly because of the age-old ideals that have been ingrained in them from a very early age.

In my personal opinion, I think that there is not so much discrimination against women because of their inability to do the job at hand but because of the expectation of women to work in less laborious jobs. We need to abolish these ideas in the workplace. I think that maybe men are intimidated by women who break gender stereotypes and excel in careers that wouldn’t typically be thought of as ‘feminine”.

A great example of this is the comments that jockey Robbie Dunne made to his female competitor Bryony Frost. Frost details her experience with Dunne in an interview with The Racing Post “Dunne promised to hurt me and put me through a wing next time he rode against me” Frost tried to resolve the problem with Dunne but his aggressive rebuttal was ‘you murder everyone and I promise you the next time we ride against each other I’m going to hurt you”. ‘Murder’ is jockey speak for cutting someone up on the race track. Bryony states that she had ridden the inside track for the majority of the race and hadn’t received a shout from anyone.

Frost acknowledges how she has been judged and shunned for speaking up about the bullying she had endured by fellow jockeys. From my point of view, this is a prime example of a man not knowing

how to deal with the fact he had been beaten by a woman at a ‘men’s’ sport. Dunne thought this was an acceptable manner to act in when it obviously is not. I don’t believe Robbie would have behaved in the same manner if he had been talking to a man, but somehow, because Bryony is a woman, it is deemed acceptable to bully and harass her simply because she beat Dunne.

I think a part of the problem is the fact that we as women are told to keep our heads down and keep working when we are staring discrimination in the face. Bryony states that her own father told her to keep her head down and to stay quiet but that Bryony felt this whole situation was so wrong and she simply couldn’t do so. Frost’s bravery inspired Hannah Welch to speak out about the bullying inflicted upon her by Dunne. Who knows how many more female jockeys will speak up regarding the bullying or abuse they have suffered at the hands of a colleague.

Robbie Dunne has now been banned for 18 months when he was found guilty of bullying and

harassing fellow, female, jockey Bryony Frost by an act of ‘deliberate targeting of a colleague who’s vulnerability had been exploited’ When announcing the verdict, panel chair, Brian Barker stated he was ‘unable to accept Dunne’s sweep of denials, criticism and his reasoning’ Barker added that Dunne showed ‘little sign of understanding or remorse’ and he instead ‘attacked Frost’s personality to justify his actions’

This is a great success for Bryony and I sincerely hope this case will highlight to others the inequality women can face day to day. I am hopeful that this could be the turning point we have long awaited.