The first ever Australian Female Jockey Championships held in Launceston last night has been labelled as "backward" by one of Tasmania's greatest riders.
To coincide with today's International Women's Day, the Mowbray racetrack hosted four female only races on Thursday night, with a top prize of $5,000.
The inaugural event has been criticised by Tasmanian Racing Hall of Fame jockey Bev Buckingham, who said it went against the equal opportunities women had previously fought for in the racing industry.
"I think it's a backward step. We fought so hard for equality and now they're just holding female races," she said.
"All they wanted, the female jockeys, was to be treated equally and race against the men so why they put on female only races?"
In a male-dominated sport, Buckingham carved out an impressive record throughout the 1980s and '90s.
Her racing career ended when she broke her neck in a race fall in 1998.
But before then, she rode more than 900 winners including victories in the Hobart, Devonport and Launceston Cups.
In 1987 she was the first woman to contest the Caulfield Cup.
Sexual harassment and insults
Despite her success, Buckingham said she continued to be discriminated against by the racing fraternity.
"It's such a macho sport, it really is a very macho sport and they didn't think the girls had the temperament to be a winner, to be as brutal and to have that mindset to be a winner and to win," she said.
"It's very, very hard to explain how hard it was and it's only the girls who were riding with me back then who would really understand it because we copped a lot of criticism.
"It wasn't just insults, I mean a lot of sexual harassment as well.
"Jockeys in the barriers say some sexual remark in the barriers and as a female jockey you don't complain about it. You've got to suck it up."
Significant progress has been made in the racing industry since Buckingham's time in the racing silks.
Chance to showcase skills
For jockeys like Victoria's Jess Eaton, that was the message to take home from last night's all-female championships.
"I can understand where she is coming from but like I said, it's a good opportunity to showcase the talent that women have in racing and it brings everyone together to really showcase what we got," she said.
"Now it's pretty an equal playing field there's a lot of women in racing now so I think if you work hard you get the opportunities."
Eaton's comments were backed up by fellow Victorian Lucinda Doodt.
"Racing is seven days a week and we have that opportunity to compete against the boys all the time," she said.
"This is a one-off sort of occasion that hopefully can become a bit more common but I think it's a great opportunity for girls to race against girls."
While the sport has made significant strides in being an inclusive workplace for women, first-year apprentice jockey Teagan Voorham said it was disappointing not everyone's attitude had changed.
"You do still just find it around," she said
"We're not as bad as what some people might think you know, we can be stronger than some of the boys and we're just as competitive as what they are.
"Just got to keep working hard and try and prove to everybody that we're all here for the same thing."
