Andrea Mosler has seen a lot in her 30-year physiotherapy career, which all began when she landed a job with an Australian Rules Football team.

As a student, eager to cut her teeth in an industry dominated by men, what she experienced wasn't uncommon.

"It was the first time a lot of these males had a female in the dressing room and, you know, what I experienced at the time was very normalised, just the crude jokes, sexist jokes," Dr Mosler said.

"But it's now that we have the language and the understanding of how those sorts of experiences affect us that I reflect back on some of those experience and recognise them as gender harassment."

After progressing through the ranks, Dr Mosler spent 18 years working with the Australian Institute of Sport in various roles.

She said it was coaches and administrators that she had even more difficulty with.

"I think as a professional, it probably takes longer to develop the relationship and trust with male coaches, generally," Dr Mosler said.

"That's probably where it took more time to develop that respect and trust, and you have to prove yourself over time in a more specific way than probably a male colleague.

Most recently, it was a four-year experience in Qatar – a country where women are generally marginalised – that Mosler realised how differently she was treated in Australia.

She said she was held in high regard for her level of education and international experience.

"I felt immediately respected and listened to and felt like I had a voice that could influence policy and decision making," Dr Mosler said.

"That was really an interesting experience for me and made me reflect back on some of my experiences in sport in Australia prior to that."

Experiences of women in sport medicine

Dr Mosler's experiences aren't uncommon for women in the sport and exercise medicine (SEM) field, so she decided to team up with several other women in the industry to gain a better understanding of experiences.

The research out of La Trobe University surveyed 223 people – both men and women – and the results were reflective of Dr Mosler's experiences.

All female practitioners experienced significantly more gender harassment, infantilisation, family policing and gender policing than men.

Women were four times more likely than men to report that their gender or sexual orientation influenced their opportunities in elite sport. Women were also over six times more likely to work with women than men were.

Female SEM practitioners currently working in elite sport worked fewer paid hours per week and fewer paid weeks per year.

Dr Mosler said she wasn't surprised.

"When I speak to my younger female colleagues that are working in elite sport now, their experiences are significantly improved from the experiences that I had more in the 1990s."

Young physio supported by mentors

Graduate physiotherapist Emily Farrell has been made aware of the challenges that lay ahead of her as a young woman in the industry.

While only working in the profession for less than a year, she said she's already had some minor experiences.

"I guess as a female, that can be a bit of an awkward encounter as well, and sometimes you're put on the spot in those situations," Ms Farrell said.

"I guess my natural instinct would be to sort of laugh and brush it off, but that's potentially encouraging the situation.

The 22-year-old said she's leaned on others in the industry for advice.

"I'm surrounded by a group of really good mentors and seniors, as well as some really good male physios that are always willing to help out, teach you sort of how to deal with those situations," Ms Farrell said.

"It's just more important to work out how to deal with that, approaching it in that professional manner … so that you can still do the job that you love, and have a long and successful career."

'I would like a person's sex and gender to be irrelevant'

While the industry has improved, Dr Mosler said there was a long way to go.

"There's still a lot of work to be done to create safe and comfortable workplaces for women working in sport and exercise, medicine and fair workplaces as well," Dr Mosler said.

"I would like a person's sex and gender to be irrelevant, and to have the right people for the job regardless of their sexual orientation or gender or race, or any kind of potential cultural norms.

"To be just very inclusive and accepting, and for people of all genders to be able to work with whatever athletes they feel empowered to work with and to be respected and accepted for who they are and what they can provide for the sport."

Dr Farrell said increasing female representation in the industry would help.

"It would be ideal if it wasn't an issue at all, but I guess that might never be the case, but it's just trying to wean it out as much as possible," she said.