Research shows that women in sport and exercise medicine roles experience more inequality and harassment than their male colleagues. It comes as no surprise to those in the industry, who say while the workplace is getting better, more needs to be done to promote inclusivity.
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00:00Andrea Mosler landed her first job as a physiotherapist with an Australian Rules football team more
00:07than 30 years ago.
00:08It was the first time a lot of these males had a female in the dressing room and what
00:14I experienced at the time was very normalised, just crude jokes, sexist jokes.
00:23To Andrea, this was all part of working in sport and just something she felt she had
00:27to get used to.
00:28It's now that we have the language and the understanding of how those sort of experiences
00:33affect us that I reflect back on some of those experiences and recognise them as gender harassment.
00:41Her experiences still aren't uncommon, so Andrea joined forces with a team of researchers
00:46from La Trobe University to learn more.
00:49Their studies show that women working in sport and exercise medicine encounter more gender
00:53inequality and harassment than men.
00:56Women work fewer paid hours per week and fewer paid weeks per year and are less likely
01:01to have the chance to work with male athletes.
01:03Graduate physio Emily Farrell is aware of the challenges that lie ahead of her as a
01:08young woman in the industry.
01:09My natural instinct would be to sort of laugh and brush it off but that's potentially encouraging
01:16the situation.
01:17The 22-year-old is learning from her mentors so she can have a long and successful career.
01:22They're always willing to help out, teach you sort of how to deal with those situations
01:27and approach them in a way that is obviously safe and professional and not encourage those
01:34situations.
01:35For people of all genders to be able to work with whatever athletes they feel empowered
01:45to work with and to be respected and accepted for who they are and what they can provide
01:51for the sport.
01:52While the industry is improving, there's still a long way to go.