Women lead in medals but still get short shrift in funding and TV time

Australia’s female athletes led the medal count at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, taking home more than 64% of all gold medals and 56% of all medals. In raw numbers, they won 43 of 67 gold, and 100 of the total 178 medals.

The Birmingham games, now over, are only the second Commonwealth Games where there has been the same number of events for men and women. In 2018, 46% of Australia’s gold medals were won in female sports compared with 52% of all medals (37/80 gold, 105/198 medals).

So surely the female-led gold rush leads to a funding boost and more TV time?

Short answer: no. It still doesn’t.

Research from True North has repeatedly found Australia’s favourite sporting teams are dominated by women. And yet this is not reflected in TV time or pay. Women receive less than 10% of all sports media coverage.

Cricket Australia is leading the charge on closing the gender pay gap but still has a long way to go. The lowest-paid male cricket players still get more than double the highest-paid females.

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