Sports Broadcaster Highlights Importance of Boosting Women’s Involvement in Motorsport

A sports broadcaster described a drive aimed at boosting women’s involvement in motorsport as “hugely important.” Formula 1 presenter Lee McKenzie addressed an audience at the Silverstone Museum during the launch of the second year of the Northamptonshire circuit’s #GirlsWill campaign. This initiative was created to inspire girls to pursue professional paths in motorsport and in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. McKenzie stated: “There is a huge drop out across all sports for girls around 14 years old, not just in motorsport.” She added: “That is being looked at and it will change. It needs to change. Not just in motorsport, it needs to change across the board.” Research conducted in 2023 by More Than Equal, an organization co-founded by former Formula 1 driver David Coulthard, revealed that global female participation in motorsport stood at approximately 10%. McKenzie’s appearance at the Silverstone Museum was part of an event promoting her recently released book, Inside F1: Life Alongside Legends, where she also recounted her sports broadcasting career, which commenced when she was 15. She remarked: “I was reporting on a rugby match on a Saturday and getting the Monday morning off school to write up these articles. Nobody told me I couldn’t do it.” McKenzie stated that she had “always felt incredibly welcome” within the industry and had not realized its male-dominated nature because she had grown up within it. “I didn’t know any different,” she commented. McKenzie noted the existence of numerous role models for women drivers, but indicated that increasing their visibility to a broader public presented a difficulty. “Women are racing,” she affirmed. “Just not in the place that people want them to be racing.” The Silverstone Museum provided complimentary entry to its #GirlsWill events, held in October, as part of this initiative. Stephanie Sykes-Dugmore, who serves as the head of collections and research at the Silverstone Museum, commented: “We are using this campaign as an opportunity to extend the message that girls can start entering motorsport. We are trying to change that.” “The fact that so many girls are turning up to these events just shows how much the F1 audience is diversifying”, Ms Sykes-Dugmore further stated. For updates on Northamptonshire news, follow BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram, and X. Copyright 2024 BBC. All rights reserved. The BBC bears no responsibility for the content found on external websites. Information regarding our policy on external linking is available.