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New research by the Victorian government has revealed that just 15 per cent of media coverage is dedicated to women's sport.
According to the Office of Women in Sport and Recreation (OWSR), this number is an improvement of nine per cent over nine years.
But that's not exactly cause for celebration — at the current rate, gender equity in sports news coverage won't be achieved until 2048.
At its most basic level, 15 per cent is a significant under-representation of a group that comprises approximately 51 per cent of the population.
It also doesn't capture the level of public interest in, and passion for women's sport.
Last week's Olympic qualification match between the Matildas and Uzbekistan is clear proof of this. With a capacity crowd of 54,120 in attendance at Marvel Stadium, it marked the 12th consecutive sold-out Matildas game on Australian soil, and reached 2.1 million viewers on broadcast.
And who could forget Ash Barty grinding out her magnificent Australian Open victory in 2022, while many of us were stuck in COVID lockdowns, watching on from our couches? Or the Australian women's cricket team captivating more than 80,000 people at the MCG on its way to winning the 2020 T20 World Cup?
Women in sport bring Australians untold joy, but the findings of the research show that mainstream media coverage has a long way to go.
Creating a more welcoming space
As we in the media love to put it, women's sport is 'booming'. But those of us who work in the industry know that doesn't automatically equate to sustainable, long-term investment and success.
In fact, Dr Fiona McLachlan, from Victoria University, found media references to women's sport "booming" as far back as 1885.
Yet, as we know too well, women in sport are still deeply embroiled in the fight for pay equity, respect, and adequate media coverage.
As McLachlan puts it in her paper, "it is not enough to take the headlines at face value, and pat ourselves on the back that we've made it … more work is required of us".
This should be the spirit with which media organisations — the ABC included — take the findings of this research, and double down on our efforts to do better.
So what are we actually doing to improve the landscape?
Since 2020, ABC Sport has been running the 50:50 Equality Project, which is part of a broader ABC News initiative.
Put simply — we're working to increase our coverage of women's sport across all our news platforms, producing more content targeted at women, and featuring more women and non-binary people as contributors across our programming and in our stories.
OWSR 's report found that women journalists are 62 per cent more likely to cover women's sport than men, and only 27 per cent of sport stories overall were written by women.
This tells us at least two things: one, that men can do better at covering women's sport, and two, that we need to focus on both recruiting and retaining women and non-binary people in sports journalism.
One thing we often hear from media organisations is that women don't apply for their jobs when advertised.
The fact is that many women see sports journalism as an industry run by and for men. This is not surprising, given those who work in it still repeatedly face sexism, homophobia and other types of harassment, sometimes from their own colleagues.
For the past few years, ABC Sport has partnered with Siren Sport to commission women and non-binary writers to write about women's sport, as well as providing training, networking and mentoring opportunities.
We're also focused on increasing our coverage of under-represented groups, including Indigenous Australians, people with disability, culturally diverse, and LGBTQI+ communities, and want to see more diverse people working within the industry too.
We recognise that until we make sports journalism a more inclusive and welcoming place for women, and others from under-represented backgrounds, many will opt out of working in it, or leave.
Women's sport covered in less depth
The research also revealed that women's sport receives less depth of coverage than men's sport.
Examples of deep coverage include comprehensive previews, analysis of performances and so on.
The difference in coverage is likely unsurprising to fans of women's sport, particularly those of the most popular codes like Australian Rules football.
Coverage of the AFL men's competition, for example, is often accused of being over-saturated. Trade period has its own dedicated radio station; multiple 'analysis' programs are aired on the main TV networks each week, and games are previewed for at least an hour before the bounce.
Compare this to AFLW, where TV coverage often starts five minutes before the siren, while print or online coverage often comprises a match report alone, rather than any critical analysis.
Whether intentional or not, these differences send a message to consumers about the relative importance of either product, coding women's sport as 'lesser'.
This isn't to say women's sport coverage should be a carbon copy of men's sport. But it needs to be given the opportunity to flourish in its own right.
Another challenge is incorporating women and non-binary people's voices in stories and interviews about sport.
Often those in senior positions, like coaches and executives, are men – so even when sports media is covering women's sport, the voices that are amplified, are those of men.
How do we measure success?
This brings us to a final point about measuring 'success'. Too often, media organisations work with conservative and outdated metrics like 'clicks'. The better an article, it is assumed, the more 'clicks' it gets.
We need to re-think this when it comes to women's sport. The fact is that women's sport has been sidelined for centuries; denied the adequate resourcing, investment and coverage required to set it up for sustainable success, and audiences have been conditioned to engage with men's sport content.
But just because an article on women's sport might not get the same 'clicks' as an article on men's sport, does not mean it is less worthy of coverage.
Making sure we capitalise on the latest 'boom' in women's sport, and retaining the fans it has brought with it, will take time and patience.
The more media organisations normalise women's sport taking up space — on the front page of news websites, in big stadiums like Docklands, and on news bulletins across the country — the more we are changing cultural norms; sending the message that women's sport is worth just as much as men's, and perhaps even more, to some.