Michelle Payne had her moment yesterday, and it wasn’t winning the Melbourne Cup

TOO often women are afraid to call out sexism for fear of being labelled a ‘whinger’ or even a ‘bitch’. Yesterday she had a global stage, and boy did she use it.

Michelle (left) and Steven Payne celebrate after Michelle rode Prince of Penzance to victory in the Melbourne Cup at Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne, Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2015. (AAP Image/Julian Smith) NO ARCHIVING, EDITORIAL USE ONLY

UPON winning the Melbourne Cup, jockey Michelle Payne delivered a powerful — and empowering — message about women in sport. It was horse racing’s version of Gillard’s misogyny speech.

As the first female to win the Cup, Michelle is making headlines all over the globe. The story of her achievement is being screened on international news bulletins and she is trending on every social media platform.

And women around the world, non-sports fans and fanatics alike, are fist pumping with pride.

Powerful, heartfelt, inspiring and honest, Michelle hit out at the outdated injustices that many pretend aren’t real but that she suffered through everyday.

“It’s such a chauvinistic sport,” Michelle said after her win.

“I know some of the owners were keen to kick me off, and John Richards and Darren stuck strongly with me, and I put in all the effort I could and galloped him all I could because I thought he had what it takes to win the Melbourne Cup.”

“I want to say to everyone else, get stuffed, because they think women aren’t strong enough but we just beat the world.”

Success may be the ultimate revenge, but speech is a most powerful tool.

And Michelle Payne didn’t speak for herself alone, but all women.

Michelle isn’t the only female athlete to be told she isn’t good enough, strong enough, that she can’t compete as well as the men, win like the men, pull crowds like the men, produce entertaining sport like the men.

Michelle Payne celebrating with her strapper brother Steven. Picture: AAP Image/Julian Smith

In a broader sense, women in society can relate to her experience: being overlooked for a position based on their gender and told they’re not suitable for a particular task because of their sex.

Michelle went further in an interview on Triple J’s Hack program.

“It’s so frustrating as a female. You’ve worked so hard every morning and do your best every time and they say ‘oh no, we will put one of the boys on’.”

“One day you might be unlucky, you might miss the start and they say ‘She missed the start!’. But when one of he guys missed the start they say ‘Geez, he was unlucky!’. And that’s what frustrates the hell out of me, you get so much less opportunities — it’s really not fair.”

Thank goodness someone is telling it like it is. Too often women are afraid to call out sexism for fear of being labelled “difficult” “a whinger” or even “a bitch”. But, having just won the biggest race of them all, Michelle spoke of her frustration from a position of power and it wasn’t just the racing industry — but the whole world that was listening.

There will be some out there who will criticise Michelle’s honesty but the truth always makes the guilty feel uncomfortable. So many women have been empowered by her victory and most of all her speech.

More than 100 years ago, Australia’s first female jockey was a woman called Wilhemena Smith who was forced to live a lie her whole life. With women forbidden to race, Wilhemena hid her gender. She raced as “Bill”, lived as a recluse, arrived at the track with her silks on and never changed in front of the other jockeys. It was only after her death in 1975 that her real identity was discovered.

A century on, it’s inspiring to see a female jockey not only win the famous Cup but to show no fear in calling out the chauvenisitic realities of her industry and our world. There’s no doubt we’ve come a long way since then but it’s ignorant to deny we’ve still got so far to go.

It was your moment Michelle, and from women everywhere, thank you.

Michelle Payne, you legend! Picture: Colleen Petch.

Sam Squiers is a sports reporter for Channel 9, and the editor of Sportette.com.au, celebrating women in sport.

Originally published as Michelle Payne had her moment yesterday, and it wasn’t winning the Melbourne Cup