The Australian Sports Commission has released new research in its report: Towards a Level Playing Field: sport and gender in Australian media that reveals the achievements of women in sport continue to be under-represented in the Australian media.

The report, which was issued by the Minister for Sport, Kate Ellis MP, at the 5th IWG International Conference on Women and Sport in Sydney on 20 May, provides a picture of how little coverage there is of women’s sport and female athletes in Australian radio, television, magazines and newspapers. It also examined the way in which female athletes are portrayed by the media.

Key findings of the report are:

• women in sport made up just nine per cent of all sports coverage in Australian television news and current affairs and seven per cent of other sport programming
• television news reports on female sport had the lowest average duration of all the types of sport news analysed; with reports on male sport having an average duration of 30 seconds longer than reports on female sport
• female athletes generally need to win in order to receive media coverage, whereas male athletes tend to receive coverage regardless of their success
• the gender stereotyping in press and television coverage of female athletes was minimal, with reporting focussed on the performances and results rather than their looks, sexuality or emotions. 

The Australian Government through the ASC recognises that one of the major barriers facing women’s participation in sport is getting women seen, heard and supported in the media. That is why the Government is investing in raising the profile of women's sport in Australia by providing:

• $32 million over 4 years to the Football Federation Australia, which includes supporting a televised Westfield Women’s League,
• $2.4 million to support the Trans-Tasman netball competition, including funding to support and promote free-to-air television coverage of the ANZ Netball Championships; and
• $100,000 to support the 5th IWG International Conference on Women and Sport.

Last week the Australian Government released Australian Sport: the pathway to success, which outlines its new direction for Australian sport. This new direction for Australian sport is backed by $195.2 million in new funding — the biggest funding injection to sport in our nation's history.

Key responses for women in the new direction for Australian sport are:

• providing a dedicated pool of funds through the ASC to provide women’s sport with additional resources
• to break into the media cycle and boost the media coverage of women’s sport in Australia
• establishing Women in Sport Awards to recognise exemplary initiatives, which provide special support for women’s and girls’ participation in sport, whether as players, coaches, administrators or officials and to recognise and reward fair and extraordinary media reporting
• setting up the Women in Sport Register to enable women to register their skills and interest in being involved in sport so they can readily access potential candidates and find a match to their needs
• requesting that the ASC works with national sporting organisations and other key bodies, such as the Butterfly Foundation, to develop strategies to tackle body image issues which affect women’s — and particularly girl's — participation in sport.

Towards a Level Playing Field: sport and gender in Australian media report was compiled for the ASC by the Journalism and Media Research Centre at the University of NSW and Media Monitors Pty Ltd.