When pictures of the female players with full-forward breasts were splashed everywhere following Legends (aka Lingerie) Football League games in Sydney and Melbourne this month, it underscored what has been a losing year for women.

Little publicity is given to women's sport in general. Did you even know there are female gridiron teams, where players wear full protective clothing like men? But attention wasn't a problem in this case. ''It's far better than watching netball,'' wrote Aaron Langmaid in Melbourne's Herald Sun.

The high ratio of photos to text online was significant. Camera angles captured bikini-topped flesh and skimpy undies in reports that failed to even mention the score. Women's bodies were on display, treated as a spectacle.

There were few advances for women in other public areas either. Australia now has fewer women in cabinet than the government of Afghanistan.

The Human Rights Commission has shown that sexual harassment remains widespread in Australian workplaces and that attempts to address it have stalled. The Bureau of Statistics presents similar disturbing figures on the harassment and stalking of women.