ABSTRACT
This chapter asks what impact the emergence of female employees has had on the racing industry and how particular classed and gendered identities have enabled some women to gain entry to 'masculine' occupations while most continue to be excluded. It examines how women, as part of the workforce, learn to accept as normal the gendered structure of the racing field and how, in turn, these practices become embodied in their work and within their working lives. The exchange value of the physical capital possessed by potential female apprentice jockeys through their being small and light has been devalued in relation to physical strength, allegedly possessed by men. The chapter discusses how, towards the end of the 1990s, the racing industry has become increasingly reliant on migrant labor after initially turning to women to supplement its shrinking male workforce. Until 1976, entry into the racing workforce was governed by male-only indentured apprenticeship.
