Women, Horseracing and Gender

Drawing on the work of Bourdieu and the concepts of field, capital and habitus, this book shows the inequalities that fracture the racing field, both historically and currently, by illustrating the classed and gendered nature of horseracing and how it has developed since the eighteenth century when it was the sport of the aristocracy. Using ethnographic research, the author demonstrates that the racing field is one of power, with men and women who work in racing acquiring a contradictorily gendered racing habitus as a result of learning by 'doing', developing practical skills and participating in a (gendered) community of practice.

Deborah Butler worked for many years as a 'lad' in the horseracing industry. She currently divides her time between working as a researcher at the University of Warwick for Warwick Manufacturing Group, as well as continuing to work in her spare time as a 'lad', riding out racehorses for a local racehorse trainer. Her background is in sociology although her research into Indentured and Modern Apprenticeship in the Horseracing Industry - A Gendered Analysis was interdisciplinary, drawing on social history, anthropology and sociology.

Table of contents, List of Illustrations, Preface and Introduction, Acknowledgements, Glossary of Terms, Abbreviations, 1. Introducing the Field, 2. Changing Class and Gender Relations in the Horseracing Industry, 3. 'Sitting by Nellie' - Learning through Practice, 4. Embodying Gender in the Racing Field, 5. Modern Apprenticeship, 6. Becoming a Racehorse, 7. Female Masculinity or Male Femininity, Index