Sunday, 17 December 2017: Victoria’s Women’s Mentoring Program has been expanded and will be run in conjunction with the ‘No Barriers, No Limits’ Steering Committee in 2018.

The Women’s Mentoring Program is a joint initiative between Racing Victoria and Tabcorp and was inaugurated last year.
, brought together 30 mentees and their 10 mentors for the first time today (Friday, 15 December
A joint working party between RV, Country Racing Victoria, the Australian Trainers’ Association, Victorian Jockeys’ Association and Thoroughbred Breeders Victoria is behind ‘No Barriers, No Limits’, aimed at fostering female participation in the Victorian thoroughbred racing industry.
Soime 30 female mentees and their mentors, comprising five men and five women, have been drawn from representatives of those five organisations plus Tabcorp employees.
The aim of the Women’s Mentoring Program is to champion women within all member organisations, and to give them the opportunities to further develop their skills under the guidance of professional mentors.
The key elements of the program include a self-paced learning kit; regular mentoring groups; attendance at a face-to-face ‘Communicating with Authority’ session and weekly email updates written by the program co-ordinator.
The program’s 12 modules, which will be spread over 12 weeks, cover areas such as goal-setting, personal branding and networking.
“We are building on the success of the first joint Tabcorp / RV Women’s Mentoring Program by extending it to the broader industry,” RV Chief Executive, Giles Thompson, said.
“It’s a powerful program, and we are excited to welcome representatives from thoroughbred breeders, horse trainers, jockeys and country racing club administrators, along with RV and Tabcorp employees.
“Whilst we are seeing a general increase in the number of women employed in our industry, we recognise that we still need to enable more women to enter, remain and thrive in the industry, which is what this program aims to achieve.”
Currently 23 per cent of licensed jockeys in Victoria are women, a figure that is steadily increasing.
Notably, eight of the 11 apprentices who graduated from RV’s Apprentice Jockey Training Program last night are female.
Women make up 52 per cent of licensed stable employees in Victoria; 37 per cent of RV employees; 30 per cent of RV senior managers; 30 per cent of CRV club managers; 26 per cent of licensed owners; 20 per cent of licensed trainers; 20 per cent of RV executive managers; and 20 per cent of RV board directors.