If you’ve listened to first two episodes this season then you may well have heard Susannah Gill mention the topic of how society values - or actually, doesn’t value - people who care for others, which we touched on in last time’s conversation in the context of people who care for children and the importance of caregiving to facilitate parents returning to work.

But childcare is one thing. What about people who have caring responsibilities for older members of their family or if you have a family member who is chronically ill, disabled or needs daily help in any other way, shape or form that requires thinking and planning on a weekly basis?

Back in Episode 15 we talked to Nick Luck about parenting a child with a chronic illness as his daughter, Xanthe, has cystic fibrosis, and Nick was open about the fact that his wife Laura, managed the majority of Xanthe’s care and medical arrangements. Today we’re hearing another perspective.

Cheryl Caves is Operations Manager at the European Breeders Fund and has worked in and around the stud and bloodstock industry for 25 years. She comes from a non-racing background in Bristol and had no connection to racing before starting her studies at The National Stud.

Cheryl has 2 kids, a husband who was in the military when said children were small and two parents with disabilities: her mother is deaf and her father is blind. As you’ll hear, there have been points in Cheryl’s life when her parents have required her help whilst her partner has been posted abroad and she had 2 very small children. Unsurprisingly, this has required significant organisational skills. No wonder she works in operations. Oh, and she also sits on the Women in Racing committee and is in charge of the Women in Racing Mentoring Programme. If you need something doing - as they say - ask a busy woman.

So this episode is about the ‘sandwich generation’. Some of you will recognise the pressures that many people - often women - face when caring both for children and parents, often with additional medical needs. Enjoy this one.

Useful links

If you're not familiar, have a look at the Women in Racing Mentoring Programme (the Mum Mentoring Programme is coming soon!)

Check out the Racing Home website here (there's LOADS of useful info there)

Read the Women in Racing and Oxford Brookes research on working mothers in horseracing here

And finally, the Women in Racing website is here too!