Nontraditional Careers For Women – Female Jockeys Gaining Ground
The first thing I can remember wanting to be when I grew up was a jockey. Well, that obviously didn’t happen, but I do wish there was a “fantasy jockey” camp, similar to what they have for baseball – I’d be the first to sign up!
Being a jockey was a nontraditional career for a woman when I was a kid, and it still is today. About 10% of professional thoroughbred jockeys are women; the Department of Labor defines a nontraditional field for women as one in which 25% or less of those employed are female.
As in other male-dominated fields, the women who pioneered in racing faced many challenges. The first woman jockey to ride in a pari-mutuel race was Diane Crump, in February 1969 at Hialeah, but she wasn’t the first to try. When Penny Ann Early attempted to enter three races at Churchill Downs in 1968, she was prevented from riding because the other jockeys boycotted the races. Barbara Jo Rubin faced not only boycotts, but a bricks thrown through her trailer window, when she entered a race at Tropical Park in January of 1969. However, Rubin did become the first female jockey to win a race on February 22 of that year when she won at Charles Town. Rubin was forced to retire about a year later due to injuries; however in her brief career of 89 races she won 22 times and was in the money 20 more times. Diane Crump made history again in …