When Bonnie Thomson first became a jockey 25 years ago, women either had to share the same facilities as men or were assigned a "broom cupboard" to change in.
Now, the once male-dominated industry is seeing a spike in female participation in Queensland, and there are growing calls to enhance women’s facilities to cater for the evolution.
About 37 per cent of licensed jockeys are women, and 79 per cent of apprentice jockeys are female, according to Racing Queensland.
"In the past 10 to 15 years when there's more and more younger girls getting involved, we had to start saying, 'well hang on'," Ms Thomson said.
"We need more room to cater for the girls.
Other times the veteran jockey said women were given their own space, but it'd feel like a "broom cupboard … where the girls got shoved out of the way."
Ms Thomson, who lives in Townsville, said she began advocating to upgrade her local women's jockey rooms so that younger women had enough privacy.
"We've fought pretty hard for our own big rooms and we're sort of succeeding in that," she said.
Facility upgrades coming
Racing Queensland chief executive Brendan Parnell said the sport was committed to making facilities gender equitable.
"[The rooms are] not big enough and they're not good enough," Mr Parnell said.
"History says the rise and the strength of female riders and female participants in racing has been awesome, and we have to make sure we continually improve the facilities.
"That's why we're making it a distinct focus to improve and expand facilities."
Mr Parnell said alongside Townsville, Ipswich jockeys' rooms had been upgraded and there has been more than $2 million spent on upgrading rooms in 20 non-TAB clubs in regional and outback parts of the state.
The Queensland government has also recently committed $2.3m to upgrade the female facilities at Rockhampton's Callaghan Park.
For central Queensland's 19-year-old apprentice jockey Tahlia Fenlon, racing is in the blood.
"My family have always owned racehorses and been involved, so it was kind of always bound to happen," she said.
The Rockhampton Jockey Club can cater for four women in its rooms, but the upgrade will take that number to 15, as well as improve recovery facilities.
"The girls' room is definitely pretty small at the moment and it needs to be upgraded," Ms Fenlon said.
Girls with a 'little bit more grit'
Of the provincial apprentice premiership for this season, six of the top 10 are women. Of them, Ms Fenlon is coming fourth.
Ms Fenlon said she thought more women than men were becoming involved because women were better able to overcome one of the challenges for jockeys, weight.
She said that keeping a low body weight was "a bit easier" for females.
Ms Thomson said while there were only a handful of women riding when she started, she has witnessed positive change in the industry.
"People have learned to accept the females and treat us all as one now," she said.
"Before it used to be 'oh, you can't put her on, she's a girl, she won't hold on' and so on," she said.
Mr Parnell said women were an important part of the industry.
"If you look at the national stage, Jamie Kah is the leading jockey in one of the strongest racing jurisdictions in the world in Victoria, and the leading jockey in the UK is female," he said.
"There's even been some racing meetings where female riders have been the winners of every race on the program … which goes to show how well they're performing and how well horses perform for female jockeys."
Ms Thomson has recently become a dual jockey and trainer, so that she can continue in the industry after she retires from racing.
She says it is an industry she would recommend to young women.
"I always tell them if it's something they want to get in, it's a great industry to be involved in."
