Abstract
Australia has experienced a dramatic increase in the popularity of female sport in the past decade, with the rise of professional competitions and record-breaking support for the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup. Despite the rapid shift in attention from grassroots to elite levels, a lack of gender diversity remains in Australian sports media. Female journalists have been shown to comprise up to 12% of sports-department staff, and content about women's sport has received minimal attention in an environment displaying a strong masculine bias. Drawing on results from previous surveys of Australian journalists, and content analyses of regional, metropolitan and national media, this chapter will track shifts in female media participation and inclusion across the nation. It will examine two versions of the International Sports Press Survey, which most recently concluded in 2021, in comparison with wide-ranging interviews with Australian journalists. The chapter will also include data related to specific sports, such as netball and cycling, to provide an overview of the limited role played by female journalists in the media over the past decade. These results will highlight that more needs to be done to provide a greater gender balance in the coverage of both female and male sport in the nation.