Where Are the Women? A Closer Look at FEI’s Suggested Athletes
“If you can’t see it, you can’t be it.” - It’s a phrase we hear time and time again when talking about representation in sport. Visibility matters—because when young athletes look up to the best in their field, they need to see people who look like them succeeding at the highest level. But what happens when those role models aren’t being put in front of them?
Recently, while subscribing to the FEI platform, I noticed something unsettling. When selecting which athletes to follow, the system suggested five riders—yet time and time again, only one, or sometimes none, were female. I tested this multiple times, and the pattern remained consistent: the recommendations heavily favoured male athletes.
This raised several questions. Are these suggestions generated randomly? And if so, is the FEI athlete database overwhelmingly male (i.e. 80%), leading to this imbalance? Or is there an algorithm at play that determines who is seen and followed? Either way, it poses an important issue: if female athletes aren’t being promoted at the same rate, how does that impact their visibility, their sponsorship potential, and their overall presence in the sport?
The Power of Small Actions
Gender inequality in sport isn’t always about grand, sweeping acts of discrimination—it’s often about the accumulation of small, unnoticed decisions that create a wider gap over time. A lack of visibility means fewer followers, fewer sponsorship opportunities, and ultimately, fewer chances to rise through the ranks. This doesn’t just affect individual riders; it shapes the way the next generation perceives who belongs at the top.
Equestrian sport is one of the few in the world where men and women compete on equal footing. And yet, when it comes to visibility and promotion, the playing field still isn’t level. If the FEI is serious about encouraging more women to not only stay in the sport but thrive within it, a simple, effective step would be ensuring that female athletes are given equal representation in suggested follows, highlights, and promotional content.
As a response to this, I’ve compiled a list of top-ranked female equestrians across all disciplines—because if the algorithm won’t make them more visible, we will. By making it easier for fans to find and follow these riders, we can take small but meaningful steps toward better accessibility, visibility, and equity in equestrian sport.
So, to the FEI—could this be an opportunity to make the promotion of female riders more intentional?
Could we ensure that when people sign up to follow equestrian sport, they see a balanced and diverse representation of the incredible athletes competing at the top level?
Because the reality is, women are at the top of this sport—it’s just time to make sure the world sees them there.
