What question did this study set out to answer?

This research aims to analyze gender bias and productivity among female jockeys in horse racing.

December 21, 2025Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A (Statistics in Society)0 citationsOpen Access

Putting female jockeys in their place

VCVanessa CashmoreUniversity of Liverpool BHBenjamin HolmesUniversity of Liverpool IMIan G. McHaleUniversity of Liverpool

Key Points

This research aims to analyze gender bias and productivity among female jockeys in horse racing.
Utilized frequent hiring events in horse racing for data collection
Evaluated productivity against opportunities afforded to each jockey
Developed a ranking model to assess under- and over-valued jockeys
Female jockeys are significantly more likely to be under-used than male counterparts
Data supports the existence of gender bias within labour markets
Performance data in horse racing was readily available for analysis

Abstract

Abstract Gender bias and discrimination within labour markets is a significant area of concern in many industries yet it represents an inherently difficult field for empirical analysis. Infrequent hiring events and complexities in obtaining truly objective measures of productivity, often coupled with under-representation of females, severely limits data availability in most workplace settings. Using a novel approach, we take advantage of the frequent hiring events within the sport of horse racing to evaluate productivity against opportunities afforded to individual jockeys. Our ranking model identifies under- and over-valued jockeys, and we find that women are significantly more likely to be under-used than males, in an industry in which performance data are readily available.

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