Updated
Women feature in only 7 per cent of sports programming in Australia, representing a backwards step compared to a decade ago and highlighting a significant gender gap in a country where sport is king, a new report shows.
The Towards a Level Playing Field: Sport and Gender in Australian Media report compiled for the Australian Sports Commission (ASC) found there was a stark difference in the coverage of male and female sport on television.
This was despite “the ongoing successes and strong participation levels of women in sport”, according to the report.
It found coverage of male sport made up 81 per cent of television sports news coverage, compared to women at 8.7 per cent.
“To put this into context, horse racing received more air time than women’s sport in Australian television news,” it said.
Coverage had also declined in recent years, with women’s sport making up about 11 per cent of television sport programming a decade ago.
“The relatively low volume of reporting and comparatively low duration of air time given to female sport when compared to women’s success and participation rates implicitly give male sports more significance than female sports in Australian television,” the report said.
Canberra Capitals coach Carrie Graf said the decline in the coverage of women’s sport in the last decade was a “tragedy”.
“We’ve got wonderful sporting women in this country that set the standard on the Olympic stage, on the world stage, in many sports yet we still seek to get similar coverage,” Graf said.
“It’s hard to say [why it’s happened]. I think it takes courageous executives in the media to get behind women’s sport and promote the fact that it’s about equal opportunity.”
Graf said the entire community would benefit from seeing more female athletes in the media.
“Our young people, boys and girls, get to see … that women can lead, they can be coaches, they can be star athletes,” she said.
“That’s important for our young men and women to see, that their mum, their sister, their partner, their wife can be … involved in professional women’s sport.”
But the research found there was “a remarkable absence” of stereotyping around women’s sport, and the tone and content of reports on female athletes had greatly improved.
“They were very rarely portrayed in a sexual way and most frequently portrayed as competitive and successful,” the report said.
Good media coverage ‘not a right’: Netball Australia CEO
Netball Australia chief executive Kate Palmer said good coverage of women’s sport was “not a right” for any sport.
“It’s never a right to get that media coverage … we need to do a good job of marketing our sport so we get that sort of product,” she said.
Some of our individual athletes are actually much more successful than many male athletes in this country, so it’s changing.
“It is disappointing, but at the end of the day it’s about us working hard to change that. Lots of sports are doing it now.
“I’m really excited about what Cricket Australia is doing with women’s cricket.
“Some of our individual athletes are actually much more successful than many male athletes in this country, so it’s changing.”
News coverage also portrayed women’s sport in a more positive light compared to men, but the report said it was a “double-edged sword”, because it meant female athletes needed to win to gain media coverage, while men were discussed regardless.
Netball takes broadcasting into its own hands
The decline in coverage looks set to continue, with the ABC no longer broadcasting the W-League and the WNBL.
But netball is growing into one of the few success stories when it comes to women’s sport on television, with the national body, Netball Australia, paying broadcasters’ production costs to show the sport on television.
Ms Palmer said that initiative, combined with its new mobile app that streamed games live, gave the sport more control over content and the sport’s overall product.
“It has been a really important journey for the sport over the last eight years and what’s been important is really being clear about what we’re trying to achieve,” she said.
“Broadcast continues to be that thing that will break the back of our issues around profile, but we’ve got great partners in place at the moment and they’re really keen to help us change the sport forever.”
‘What female athletes do is astounding’: Graf
Ms Palmer said a significant part of getting media interest was having strong corporate sponsorship.
“We need a national footprint and that’s been really critical. [Sponsors] that give us a national footprint, they invest in leverage in our brand, they have marketing campaigns that include our athletes.
“With that comes partnerships with broadcasters, because broadcasters see us as an opportunity to secure those partners as well.”
[Women’s sports teams] have athletes that are great role models, truly great role models.
Graf agreed, but said it was tough to sell women’s sport in the current marketing landscape.
“To sell things you need money. That’s why it’s challenging, and the sponsorship market is a tough market, particularly in the sporting market,” she said.
“You’re competing with lots of people for the same slice of the sponsorship dollar.
“I think it takes smart and intelligent businesses and corporations to put their money behind women’s sporting teams.
“They have athletes that are great role models, truly great role models.
“The work a lot of our female athletes as non-professionals do in the community is astounding.”
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