Winds Of Change: Equal Pay For India's Women Cricketers Is A Step In The Right Direction

One of the biggest pieces of news in sports in the year 2019 focused on a stunning development in the world of football.

It wasn¡¯t related to Messi, Ronaldo or even Ramos; it pertained to a leading light in the world of football Ada Hegerberg, all of 27.

Back then, the Norwegian, widely considered among the greatest to have ever kicked a football sat out of the World Cup despite being fit and hearty.

So why was that?

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Well, the Sunndalsora-born striker was protesting against the unequal pay where women were concerned. Not only that, the forward-looking go-getter was also gravely concerned about the lack of investment by her country when it came to promoting and fostering Women¡¯s Football vis-a-vis the men¡¯s game.

Truth be told, Cricket isn¡¯t the only sport where female athletes are grossly underpaid in comparison to their male counterparts.

There are other sports where women are yet to find a level playing field with which to make a mark the way men have.

Formula 1, whose USP, besides being backbreaking speed, is the catchphrase, ¡°We Race as One,¡± is still not able to have a mixed-gender grid that would see women take to the wheels of an F1 machine akin to men.

Moreover, the most expensive sport in the world despite driving the ¡®all are equal¡¯ mantra has a separate all women (exclusive) league known has W Series that has nothing to do with the highest echelons of Grand Prix racing: F1. As we know it!

In 2019, for instance, the champion of the W Series got USD 500,000 while the estimated pay earned by Sir Lewis Hamilton by Mercedes salary in that year was around ?32,847,060.

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By that calculation, while the visible pay gap between what Emma Kimilainen gets when compared to her Finnish compatriot Valtteri Bottas is unsettling enough, what further underscores the difference is that F1 is several times faster than the purely-for-women league.

In an era where words like Diversity & Inclusion and Equal Rights For Women are no longer glittery PowerPoint captions but the need of the hour, Cricket in India, has, at least, demonstrated the difference.

And dare one day, it¡¯s a marked improvement that was so desperately needed.

Because if someone wouldn¡¯t lead by example in the world of sports then who would?

In what is clearly a pathbreaking, endlessly inspiring day for Women¡¯s cricket in the country, the revered BCCI has shown a way through which a sport much loved in India will now be loved even more in the times to come.

How¡¯s that?

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In announcing in no uncertain terms that going forward the women cricketers of the country in the national team shall be paid equivalent to what their male counterparts earn, BCCI General Secretary broke the news that is a watershed moment for India¡¯s most loved sport.

To elucidate further, the centrally contracted female and male cricketers shall now earn equally.

If that¡¯s something that, besides being a major relief for our tireless women cricketers is not a harbinger of positivity, then one wonders, what is?

We are, lest it is forgotten, just as privileged to be served by a Mithali Raj, Jhulan Goswami, Harmanpreet, Smriti and Deepti as we are glad to be seeing Rohit, Suryakumar, Rahul and of course, Virat.

Aren¡¯t we?

But the issue of a lack of big bucks, such a big nadir of women cricketers in our country, who time and again, suffered the ignominy of being ignored for the same will no longer continue.

It has, as on October 27, 2022, simply ceased to exist all thanks to a forward-looking approach by a cricket board that has today placed women and men on an equilibrium.

And shall one say, what a delight it truly is?

That¡¯s down to several reasons, one of which is certainly the exceptional standards of international cricket that we¡¯ve been pleased to see ever since the wake of the 2017 ICC Women¡¯s ODI World Cup.

BCCI

For it was a world-class tournament, where occurrences such as Harmanpreet¡¯s 171, a brutal takedown of the world¡¯s strongest team in Australia, led viewers to deeply question whether Women¡¯s cricket was any longer lagging in quality and athleticism when compared to the men¡¯s game.

But while batting exploits such as that of the present Indian captain and bowling feats such as Shrubsole¡¯s laudable spell in the widely-watched final entertained what didn¡¯t, truly speaking, was the fact that our Indian athletes weren¡¯t paid what they were committed a long time even after the epic World Cup ended.

Year after year from that point onwards, talks and largely half-hearted promises that soon a Women¡¯s IPL would commence and hence pay women what they weren¡¯t getting fell apart, October of 2022 has sorted that longstanding debate and how!

Not long after the BCCI announced a Women¡¯s IPL starting the next year, this promising news that now places women with men on an equal footing where cricket stands is a revolutionary development.

Here¡¯s what Mr. Shah had to say:

¡°We are implementing pay equity policy for our contracted BCCI women cricketers!¡±

Within seconds of Mr Shah posting this tweet, Twitter spiralled into widely received fanfare.

And one notes, a normal step by those in power, as is the case here, is a giant leap for the sporting kind.

Well done, BCCI. And way to go women¡¯s cricket.