Media is missing the middle of women's sports stories

PremiumOpinionOpinion byAlice SoperContributing Sports Writer·nzme·21 Aug, 2026 05:10 PM4 mins to readAlice Soper is a sports columnist for the Herald on Sunday. A former provincial rugby player and current club coach, she has a particular interest in telling stories of the emerging world of women's sports.‌The sixth edition of Sport New Zealand’s Media and Gender Report revealed that the growth of women’s sports coverage has stalled. From the rapid rise of 15% in 2020 to 28% in 2022, we now sit stubbornly at just over a quarter of all sports coverage featuring women.

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Media is missing the middle of women's sports stories

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