The Rise of Women's Sports: Breaking Barriers in 2024
Record audiences, new leagues and full gender parity at the Olympics. Why 2024 was a breakthrough year for women's sport.
2024 was a landmark year for women's sport, with record audiences, new professional leagues and a growing recognition that women's competitions are a major commercial opportunity rather than an afterthought.
Record-breaking audiences
The 2024 NCAA women's basketball final between South Carolina and Iowa drew an average of around 18.9 million U.S. viewers, more than the men's final that year. Iowa's Caitlin Clark, the first pick in the 2024 WNBA draft, brought a wave of new fans to the professional game.
New leagues, new investment
The Professional Women's Hockey League launched in January 2024, and investment in women's football, basketball and cricket continued to grow worldwide.
Parity on the biggest stage
The Paris 2024 Olympics were the first Games to allocate an equal number of athlete quota places to women and men, a symbolic milestone more than a century after women first competed.
The Australian effect
Australia has been at the forefront of this growth. The Matildas' run to the semi-finals of the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup, co-hosted with New Zealand, drew some of the largest television audiences in Australian history and inspired a surge in girls' participation.
What comes next
Pay equity, facilities and media coverage still lag behind men's sport. But the momentum of recent years suggests the gap is closing faster than ever.
