Jenn Trepeck, creator/ host of Salad With A Side Of Fries is no stranger to women’s podcast awards. In 2022, she was nominated for the International Women’s Podcast Award for Visionary Leadership. In 2025, she won the Stellar Award for the Women Who Podcast Magazine awards, and she won second place 2026 in the Changing The world category.
Jenn Trepeck
If you listen to podcaster Joe Rogan and his manosphere ideology, men feel trapped by financial burdens, bills, mortgages, and family commitments. Yet, a study by the Gender Equity Policy Institute shows that mothers spend nearly double the amount of time on childcare and domestic work compared to fathers. This disparity persists even when both partners work full-time or when women earn more as primary breadwinners.
According to the NIH, studies on household management indicate that women frequently carry the invisible cognitive and emotional labor—such as family scheduling, anticipating needs, and coordinating logistics—often referred to as the “mental load.”
Here’s Jennifer Moss, Co-founder / Chief Creative Officer at JAR Podcast Solutions, discussing gender roles in podcasting: “ The kinds of horrendous opinions about women that are shared in some bro podcasts are concerning in that these shows influence young men. Personally, I find that I can tune out the podcast bro-sho manosphere pretty easily. Almost too easily. Podcasting is a self-selected choice based medium. You’re not forced to listen to anything you don’t want to hear. This is a double edged sword: it means you get lots of choices, which is great, but it can also foster siloed thinking in some instances: especially if your feed is only full of people you agree with. I try to consciously challenge myself in this regard.”
Podcasting isn’t that different from any industries. When it began, men dominated because early adopters were mostly tech enthusiasts, programmers, and hobbyists. This group was heavily male at the time.
This early imbalance carried forward. Studies of top charts over the years—including reports from Forbes in 2018 and the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative in recent years—show that men continue to host the majority of top-ranking podcasts.
Despite the challenges, women have made serious inroads in the podcasting industry, both in front and behind the microphone. In this article, we will look at women’s growing influence in podcasting, the gap that still persists, and two women-only podcast awards that exemplify the progress women have made within the industry.
What the research shows
The USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative released a landmark study in November 2025 revealing severe gender and racial disparities among the creators and guests of popular podcasts.
According to the study, the podcast genres that were most frequently hosted by women include true crime, arts, society and culture (which the researchers put into one category), news and education.
The researchers also found that over 77% of the top 100 hosts were white — leaving a lot of communities out of the conversation.
The Annenberg research points out that within the Top 100 podcasts from 2024, only 11 female hosts were from racially underrepresented backgrounds. Several of them are current or former NPR anchors.
The researchers say the gender and racial inequities they’ve identified in the podcasting arena are far greater than in similar research they’ve done in the movie, TV and music industries. According to their most recent data, only 22.3% of podcast hosts come from underrepresented groups; by contrast, more than 44% of both regular actors on TV series and artists working in popular music are people other than white men, while 25.2% of actors leading or co-leading films are from underrepresented groups.
” As the format matures, that accessibility can help challenge the old patterns of entertainment and pave the way for a more inclusive audio landscape.”
This is the first time that the Annenberg team has delved into podcasting.
“Female hosts are outnumbered by roughly 2 to 1 across popular podcasts,” the report states. “The only space where women reach 50% of hosts is in true crime — where stories focus on grisly acts often committed against women.”
Genre Gender Gaps Run Deep
The gender imbalance is not uniform across podcast categories. The report found that male hosts dominate every genre except True Crime, where women slightly edge out men (53% to 47%).
“Business & Tech, Sports & Fitness and Comedy were almost solely the genres male hosts worked in,” the report says. Business and Technology podcasts were the most male-dominated, with 92.3% of hosts being men, a ratio of 12 to 1. In Sports & Fitness, men made up 81.1% of hosts (4.3 to 1 ratio), and in Comedy, 76.4% of hosts were male (3.2 to 1).
The report also highlights a technological divide. It says more than three-fifths (62.3%) of podcasts with all-male hosts included video, whereas 46.7% of the podcasts with at least one female host featured video. Across the broader 592-show sample, that pattern persisted — 61.4% of all-male podcasts used video vs. 49.6% of those with female hosts.
The study argues that such differences matter because “podcasts with video components are often more visible to algorithms, promoted more heavily on platforms, and more likely to attract sponsorships,” reinforcing male dominance in audience reach and monetization.
And the winner is…
“As an industry, podcasting tends to be collaborative and collegial,” notes Lashay Jones from Willow Grove Communications. “In podcasting, women are especially supportive of each other. We do that by designing award programs for women, since the men seem to dominate the existing award programs.”
Women Who Podcast magazine, which was originally founded in 2021. The Women Who Podcast Awards began in 2025, with registration opening on May 1, 2025, and the inaugural winners announced in August 2025.
Women Who Podcast Magazine
The Women Who Podcast Magazine Awards is an annual international awards program created by Women Who Podcast Magazine to honor and celebrate independent, women-identified podcasters. The award was founded by Kathy Barron, Editor-in-Chief of Women Who Podcast Magazine. Its mission is to spotlight the creative power, originality, influence, and innovation of women in the podcasting industry. The awards champion underrepresented voices and independent creators, providing a dedicated platform for recognition and community growth.
The Women Who Podcast Magazine Awards were announced in mid-August by the Women Who Podcast Magazine. Listen to Kathy Barron, who is the Editor-in-Chief of Women Who Podcast magazine: “Women podcasters are a vital presence in the podcasting world, and it’s about time a publication gave them the accolades that they deserve.”
Jenn Trepeck, creator/host of Salad With A Side Of Fries, who won in the 2o25 Stellar Interview category and placed second in 2026 in the Changing The World category, noted: “As first place winner of the stellar interview category, I’m honored and truly proud. Having no formal training in journalism or interviewing, this is a testament to the time, attention, and care I put into my preparation, genuine curiosity, and mission to change the state of healthcare by empowering listeners to reclaim their health.”
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Women Who Podcast magazine
In 2026, The Hairy Chin Podcast, hosted and produced by female health advocate Spencer Moore, won four Women Who Podcast Magazine Awards: Best in Show, first place in the Profound Nugget category, second place in the Bare Your Soul category, and Best Cover Art. The podcast won all four honors in the first podcast awards competition it entered.
“The deeper I go into this work, the more profound the feeling becomes that, while it started as a passion project, it has become my purpose,” said Spencer Moore, founder and host of The Hairy Chin Podcast. “Recognition like this pushes conversations around female health further into the mainstream. With every new listener, there is another opportunity to increase awareness, provide education, and help women become confident and active participants in their healthcare.”
The Caregiver Breathing Room is a short-form weekly podcast hosted by Charlotte Bayala that offers five-minute guided breathing resets and grounding exercises for caregivers. The show won three Women Who Podcast Awards, as did the Cancer Caregiver podcast also created and hosted by Charlotte Bayala. In 2025, the Cancer Caregiver podcast won three awards.
In an interview, Charlotte said, “Through the awards, reviews, and private feedback people give me I know the shows make a difference for the people who listen. But sometimes when you’re a team of one sitting in a dark room at 5:00 AM recording an episode or writing a script, I find that loneliness is also sitting in that room with me. Being an indie podcaster isn’t for the weak. I’ve had to remind myself, many
times, who I’m doing this for. Sometimes it’s me. Sometimes it’s them.”
Women’s awards go global
The International Women’s Podcast Awards started in 2021. The award was founded by Naomi Mellor of The Skylark Collective, and the first awards ceremony took place on September 23, 2021, at the AllBright in London.
Tink Media is an award-winning podcast growth, PR, and marketing agency that helps audio creators, networks, and authors expand their reach. Lauren Passell started the company in 2019.Newsletters. Tink publishes industry-standard newsletters such as Podcast the Newsletter and Podcast Marketing Magic, and produces the podcast discovery show Feed the Queue. It also operates a free daily podcast recommendation hotline (1-844-POD-AT-ME).
IWPA
This year, the International Women’s Podcast Awards are returning with a new team, new branding, a new location, and all the same love of the art of podcasting. With Tink Media stepping in as this year’s host, the event will expand its reach and visibility while staying true to its founding purpose of championing international women creators in audio both behind the mic and behind the scenes, from podcast hosts and producers, to editors and writers.
Entries just closed last week on August 14th, 2026. To demonstrate the award program’s commitment to indie podcasters, the entry fee is only $50.
The 2026 International Women’s Podcast Awards ceremony will be held in Toronto, Canada, on October 8, 2026 Toronto Biennial of Art
Lauren Passell, founder of Tink Media, says, “The joy of podcasting lies in its intimacy. In the atmosphere created between the creators and listeners. In the moments of incredible sensitivity, humor, or honesty that keep people engrossed. The International Women’s Podcast Awards celebrates these intimate moments of podcasting brilliance, and the people that make them happen. We are unlike other awards… We don’t look at the genre your podcast is in, and we don’t care how many downloads you’ve had. Furthermore, we’re just looking for your exceptional moments of audio brilliance. The ones that make you the most proud of your podcast. The ones you’d choose to show off to others.”
A growing influence
Women continue to grow in prominence in both the boardroom, recording studio, and editing room in podcasting. Yet, a gap still persists. Studies indicate that roughly 35% of podcasts are female-founded or hosted by women, compared to 65% by men. Major financial investments, high-profile sponsorships, and massive global distribution deals still disproportionately skew toward male-led or male-dominated genres like sports, tech, and comedy.
However, positive trends exist. Women heavily lead or outnumber men in high-engagement categories like true crime, relationships, self-improvement, and society-and-culture. Female-focused and lifestyle podcasts drive incredible consumer trust and higher ad-conversion rates, making women’s-centric shows prime spaces for brand influence.
It’s easy to forget the barriers erected to keep women from forging their own identity. After all, it was only a little over 70 years ago that Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor successfully graduated from Stanford Law School in 1952, yet private law firms in California turned her down for attorney positions solely because she was a woman, offering her a job as a legal secretary instead. She broke through by offering to work for free for a county attorney in San Mateo, California, which led to a paid position as a deputy county attorney.
Rosalind Franklin captured the critical X-ray diffraction image that proved the double-helix structure of DNA. Yet her data was shown without her permission to James Watson and Francis Crick, who won the Nobel Prize. Franklin died before recognition was given.
Alice Ball was a pioneering African-American chemist who created the “Ball Method,” the most effective injectable treatment for leprosy in the early 20th century. She died at age 24, and the college president took credit for her research before her name was restored decades later.
Jenn Trepeck, creator/ host of Salad With A Side Of Fries, summarized these awards best when she said, “The importance of awards that highlight women in the male dominated podcast industry is hard to overstate. Further, Women Who Podcast Magazine’s awards support the independent creators who are often under the radar, not getting the same attention as celebrity-hosted shows yet make a powerful difference in listeners’ lives.”
Lauren Passell, founder of Tink Media, underscores the need for women-focused recognition. “The International Women’s Podcast Awards are important to us because women’s voices and women’s stories are too often under funded and not recognized. Tink has been a supporter of the IWPA for years, so it was such a natural fit to step in as hosts this year. We are a women-run company made of people absolutely obsessed with sound. What I have learned in organizing so far is that it takes real passion and creativity and joy for something to make it succeed and sing. We care so much, I don’t think it would work if we didn’t.”
Jennifer Moss is the Co-founder / Chief Creative Officer at JAR Podcast Solutions: specializing in audio storytelling, brand storytelling, creative story development, achieving “lift-off” on new projects, and having fun in the process.
Jennifer Moss
Despite their achievements and progress in podcasting, women still face strong headwinds. Jennifer Moss observes: “Women, who are now 48% of the total podcast audience, will actively seek a host, or a subject that feels relevant to their lives. 55% of women make this kind of conscious intentional choice when picking content. Men don’t do this as much— because even to this day — they simply don’t have to because the medium largely defaults to their perspective. There has been some improvement. Of the top 100 shows I believe now 36% are hosted or cohosted by women. So that’s a significant gain over the last 15 years or so. But then when you look closer at those top 100 shows, nearly 73% of all guests are men.”
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