For women in media, the mood has shifted: from hopeful to hardened.
Despite years of reporting, reform, and rhetoric, a new national survey reveals most women working in Australian media are still not seeing real change.
Instead, they’re hitting breaking point.
The Women in Media Industry Insight Report 2025, released this week, finds dissatisfaction among women in media has climbed to 59%, the highest level recorded in four years.
Nearly one in three are considering leaving their jobs. More worryingly, nearly half are weighing up leaving the industry altogether.
Behind the data lies a growing sense that promises aren’t translating into progress.
“We now have the policy settings in place,” Petra Buchanan, the report’s lead author and strategic advisor to Women in Media, told Mediaweek.
“We have employers and industry coming to the party. But it’s the disconnect that is fuelling the dissatisfaction. They’re seeing the transparency, but they’re not seeing the on-the-ground change.”
The pay gap remains the dealbreaker
Pay equity has now overtaken all other concerns for the second year running. Nearly 30% of respondents identified inadequate pay as their main reason for wanting out, more than double those citing workplace culture, career stagnation or safety.
And the problem isn’t perception, it’s structural.
While women make up 41% of the media workforce, they hold only 23% of top executive roles. The sector’s average gender pay gap sits at 10%, ballooning to 16.4% in publishing and 11.8% in broadcasting.
Buchanan believes many organisations have adopted a compliance-first mentality, ticking boxes without meaningful engagement.
“I think there’s a bit of a tick-and-forget exercise when it comes to HR policies,” she says. “It could be that email I didn’t read. But that’s not good enough, right? We need to go beyond that and ask: how do leaders talk about this? What does this actually mean in the workplace?”
She says leaders must shift from meeting obligations to making intentional change: “not just the obligatory message from the HR department.”
Reforms aren’t reaching the floor
Although significant reforms like WGEA’s pay transparency laws and Respect@Work have been introduced, 74% of women say their employer has either failed to act on pay inequality or hasn’t communicated any action.
A further 78% say they’ve seen no real cultural improvement in their workplace.
This is where Buchanan says many companies are falling short: “We need organisations to step up and be better communicators,” she says.
“They also need to make commitments to real talent pipelines, supporting women so they’re not just put into leadership roles, but that they’re set up to succeed.”
The lack of visibility around action is a trust issue, Buchanan warns.
“Trust is a huge issue,” she says. “We’ve seen the Edelman Trust Index over the years, trust in institutions, media, government, all in decline. And in that kind of environment, companies have to work harder to gain the trust of their employees.”
Kitty Flanagan, who gave the keynote speech at this years Women in Media Oration
What good leadership looks like now
In her view, the solution isn’t a mystery, it’s just not being taken seriously enough. Buchanan is clear: “Let’s stop stating the problem and start taking really progressive steps towards the solutions.”
She says there’s precedent to follow. “In the UK, they started ahead of us in terms of gender pay gap reporting. They’re seeing change, and we will too. But it has to be intentional. Employers need to really reflect and communicate. Their leaders need to articulate, not just comply.”
That means rethinking how reforms are rolled out internally.
“Respect@Work is not just a legal obligation. It’s a conversation, from leadership right through to line managers, about the kind of culture we want here. And it has to be more than a poster or a policy on the intranet.”
The retention crisis no one can afford to ignore
At its core, the data paints a troubling future: one where the industry risks bleeding talent at every level. Buchanan says the deeper issue is that women don’t feel seen, heard, or valued.
“When you go back to the broader issues in this data, it’s clear women are looking to leave because they’re fundamentally not feeling valued,” she says.
“And in an industry already grappling with trust, audience fragmentation, and misinformation, that kind of attrition is a reputational risk.”
She believes employers who act now have an opportunity to lead.
“The ones that act early, do this well, implement and show progress, they’re the ones that are going to build a reputational advantage and retain talent,” Buchanan says.
“That’s where the opportunity sits.”
An industry call to action
The report outlines four immediate recommendations: commit to real transparency around pay and pathways; improve promotion structures; maintain focus on reform and culture; and significantly lift the number of women in leadership.
To that end, Women in Media has launched a national leadership program, and is calling on media companies to put women forward for it.
“We’re actively asking industry to come with us,” Buchanan says. “We’re ready to train those women and support them so they are absolutely ready to embrace those roles, and thrive in them.”
Because while policies are finally in place, the time for passive support has passed.
“It’s not going to be a slam dunk,” Buchanan says. “But we’ve got transparency, we’ve got the reforms, and now, we need bold leadership.”