The prize money for the final of this year's Women's Gift footrace in Victoria will increase tenfold to equal that of the iconic men's Stawell Gift race.

The winner will take home $40,000 with total prize money on offer for the 120-metre race increasing from $6,000 to $60,000.

Stawell Gift organisers said providing equal prize money for the men's and women's races for the first time should lead to an even higher quality field.

Australian women's 100 metres sprint record holder, Melissa Breen, will take part and said it was only fair there was parity.

"Essentially we are running the same distances, we train the same hours and we love the sport equally, so why not race for the same prize money," she said.

Breen predicted more women would follow her lead.

"I'm sure the boost in prize money will see many of the best female athletes from across the country support the Stawell Gift," she said.

"We have our national championships the weekend before in Brisbane so I hope that a lot of the girls that are running up there will be heading to Stawell after this.

"There's no reason why not; it's a great weekend, it's great running on the grass."

Stawell Athletic Club committee member Robert Irvine said the increased prize money was a significant milestone for both the event and more generally for sport in Australia.

"The Stawell Gift is one of the most iconic and prestigious events on the Australian sporting calendar... The Stawell Athletic Club is proud to be one of the few major sporting events offering equal prize money for men and women in sport in Australia," he said.

The Stawell Gift has been held in all but four years since 1878 and is run on a grass track in the regional Victorian town of Stawell.

The first Women's Gift was run in 1989.

Female athletes who have run in the Stawell Gift carnival include Cathy Freeman, Tamsyn Lewis, Jana Pittman and Melinda Gainsford-Taylor.

By offering a prize pool of this magnitude in both races, the Women's Gift and the Stawell Gift become the two richest footraces on the Australian athletics calendar.