Kindred Group announced Monday that it will extend its funding of the Racing Home project, thus enabling the Women in Racing organization to implement a range of measures to ensure that horseracing industry better supports its participants in planning and raising a family.
"The extension of funding will enable Women in Racing to work with the stakeholders at implementing a whole 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" Women in Racing stated.
Kindred Group partnered with Women in Racing in 2020 to raise awareness of some of the challenges working mothers face within the horseracing industry. Kindred sponsored the Racing Home programme, which was delivered in collaboration with Simply Racing and Oxford Brookes University.
The program resulted in the report "Racing Home, Working Mothers in the Horseracing Industry". With continued support for 2022 from Kindred and the Racing Foundation, Women in Racing will now implement the practical and educational changes, based on recommendations from the report. This includes developing and digitizing a transparent Racing Home website, supporting pregnant women in their journey back onto a horse and coaching younger generations on equal opportunities.
The project seeks to ensure that people have an understanding of their rights and are embraced inclusively by racing’s employers who will see the benefit of investing in the working practices and quality of life of working parents. "By highlighting good working practices around motherhood and leading the way in this area, Women in Racing will help make racing more accessible and thereby demonstrate that we want people from outside our sport to join the racing family", Women in Racing stated.
In an official press release, Ed Nicholson, Head of Kindred Racing Communications and Sponsorship, spoke about this sponsorship and said: "We are delighted to be able to support the important work Women in Racing are doing to benefit women in the horseracing industry. At Kindred, we strongly believe that a diverse workforce enhances our performance, and we focus on improving our diversity across the Group. We know that Women in Racing are instrumental to raising the awareness of diversity in the racing industry and we are pleased to be able to support the delivery of concrete actions to enhance the wellbeing of the industry”.
Tallulah Lewis, Women in Racing Chair, added: "Women in Racing is incredibly grateful for the continued support Kindred Group provides for the Racing Home project. The team at Kindred have supported us since the inception of Racing Home and pushed us to keep going with our work. We are very excited for this next phase. We look forward to implementing the findings from the research and continuing to work with Kindred Group to make horseracing a more sustainable environment for working mothers and parents."