Walking the course at Aintree. Photo courtesy Women in Racing.

Whenever I write about women and racing, I can count on getting at least two reactions.

One is the private messages, texts, and phone calls from women, the ones in which women share their experiences (“but please don’t write this … I want to keep working in the industry”) about unequal pay, about harassment, about their frustration at the way women are marketed to by most racing entities.

The second is the equally confidential conversations with men, who pull me aside to quietly point out that, you know, it’s women’s responsibility to be more assertive in pursuing the positions they want.

Color me fortunate, perhaps, but assertiveness is not a quality in short supply in the women that I see working in racing.

What is in short supply is the presence of women at too many high-profile, policy-influencing, public events.

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