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.
Is this as outrageous as it sounds? Let us know your thoughts by writing to letters@crikey.com.au. Please include your full name to be considered for publication. We reserve the right to edit for length and clarity.
This is a business economics issue. Women’s sport simply does not generate anywhere near enough sponsorship and advertising revenue to justify higher expenditure.
Presumably ‘Lucy’ in the Afar Depression, Ethiopia. Certainly depresses me.
Ah statistics. Maybe there are less women playing sport or encouraged to play sport in the other countries. Hence Australia’s “dominance”?
Thanks for pointing this inequality out Julia, however the Comm Games and the Olympics are not good case studies. Our medals there tend to come from rich white people’s sports like swimming which attract little attention between Games. The significant inequality comes in club sports, the bread and butter of sport. Women’s football, basketball, rugby etc attract significantly less media, promotion, sponsorship etc than their male equivalents. Certainly women’s football is finally starting to close the gap but there is still a long way to go there and elsewhere.
Funny how the richest countries always win most medals. Proves how superior we are compared to, say, the countries which used to supply the slaves. Oh gotta go, that’s my phone. The one with the COLTAN in it.
Judging by the length of this article, Crikey editors feel the same way as the sports broadcasters.
Or was it shortened for another bloviated Rundle page-filler (see above)?