The steep rise in the women’s game

Abhinav Patel
July 15, 2023
44 Views

ICC announcing equal pay for men’s and women’s cricket tournaments is a major milestone in the women’s game, with the last five years seeing quite a few of them.

In a groundbreaking announcement on Thursday, 13 July, prize money parity was declared for men’s and women’s teams at ICC events.

While making the announcement, ICC Chairman Greg Barclay highlighted a key point about how the prize money in women’s events was on the increase in the last few years.

“Since 2017 we have increased prize money at women’s events every year with a clear focus on reaching equal prize money and from here on in, winning the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup will carry the same prize money as winning the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup and the same for T20 World Cups and U19s too,” Barclay said.

ICC announces equal prize money for men’s and women’s cricket

To quote numbers, the winners and runners-up at the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2020 and 2023 received $1 million and $500,000 respectively, which was five times the amount offered in 2018.

The prize money for the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2022 was $3.5m, nearly double of that from the event in 2017.

This significant step in women’s cricket isn’t a one-off with several member boards also making key decisions to improve parity in the sport.

Here, we take a look at a few other major milestones achieved in the women’s game in the last few years.

Video Women’s Cricket 14 Jul 23 03:07 The story of the first Women’s Cricket World Cup Trophy

Equal pay from member boards

In 2022, New Zealand Cricket and the players’ association signed a historic deal for five years that saw male and female cricketers receive equal pay.

“It’s great for the international and domestic women players to be recognised in the same agreement, alongside the men,” White Ferns skipper Sophie Devine said at the time.

The agreement saw women’s cricketers, notably at both international and domestic level, receive the same match fees as men’s players across all formats.

Video Women’s T20 World Cup 26 Feb 23 03:13 The moment Australia lifted the T20 World Cup for the sixth time | Women’s T20WC 2023 Australian captain Meg Lanning and her team celebrated in style as they lifted the trophy at Newlands in Cape Town after beating South Africa in the final of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup.

Last year, BCCI announced equal match fees for men and women cricketers in international matches.

Under the renewed policy, the women cricketers had match fees go up to INR 15 lakh for a Test (from INR 2.5 lakhs), 6 lakh for an ODI (from INR 1 lakh) and 3 lakh for a T20I (from INR 1 lakh).

Former India captain Mithali Raj hailed the decision as a “historic” one.

Cricket Australia also declared hefty pay rise for their women cricketers earlier this year. Under the agreement, the women players will share in $133 million ($AUD) over a five-year period.

The boost in pay – jumping from $80 million in the previous agreement – came on the back of similar increases in New Zealand and India.

Video cwc19 14 Jul 23 03:11 Golden Jubilee: Commemorating 50 years of the first ever Cricket World Cup As we continue to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first-ever Women’s Cricket World Cup, modern-day greats pay homage to the trailblazers and reflect on where the women’s game is now.

Maternity leave for women cricketers

In 2019, Cricket Australia unveiled a new policy aimed at providing comprehensive support to its cricketers who become parents through birth or adoption. This progressive policy grants players the opportunity to take up to 12 months of paid parental leave, ensuring that they have the necessary time and resources to care for their newborn or adopted child.

Cricket Australia’s policy recognises the important role of primary caregivers in their children’s lives. It extends support to players who resume their sporting careers after the initial parental leave period. This support includes covering the expenses associated with child care and a designated caregiver, encompassing essential aspects such as accommodation and travel arrangements.

Video cwc19 03 Mar 22 05:26 Top 10 Moments from ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2017 | Magic Moments

Through this policy, Cricket Australia demonstrated its commitment to promoting work-life balance and gender equality among its cricketers.

The same year, New Zealand cricketer Amy Satterthwaite took an indefinite break from cricket while preparing for her first child, but continued to receive her annual retainer. She benefitted from the new pregnancy leave provisions included in the new agreement that was formulated by New Zealand Cricket.

A year later she returned to top flight cricket, playing for two more years before announcing her retirement.

Pakistan followed suit in 2021, launching a parental policy that allowed men and women players to get paid leave during pregnancy and upon the birth of a child. Women will get up to 12 months of paid leave, with men allowed 30 days.

Bismah Maroof benefitted from the policy, having taken an indefinite break from the game that year for pregnancy.

“Now that we have a maternity leave policy, I am hopeful that it will attract more women and girls to take up the sport as this will help them strike a crucial work-life balance,” Wasim Khan, the PCB chief executive officer, said at the time.

Video cwc19 01 Mar 22 02:28 We want to inspire girls: Pakistan Captain Bismah Maroof | CWC22

Record viewership in women’s ICC tournaments

Changes within the women’s game have also reflected in the growing interest among fans.

The ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2023 was the most watched ICC women’s event to date with global viewing hours for the event reaching a record 192 million, a 44% increase from the 2020 T20 World Cup in Australia.

Video Women’s T20 World Cup 24 Feb 23 03:10 Newlands rocking in rousing semi-final for South Africa | Women’s T20WC 2023 Newlands Cricket Ground in Cape Town, South Africa was rocking as the home team clinched a spot in the Final of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2023

Broadcast figures in South Africa, the host nation, saw a 130% increase in live coverage. The overall viewership figures for the event shattered past records with a 790% increase in fans tuning in to enjoy the World Cup compared to the previous edition in 2020.

The 2022 Women’s Cricket World Cup too set records, registering an extraordinary 1.64 billion total video views across ICC channels, which is the fourth-most digitally engaged ICC event ever behind the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2019, the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021 and 2022.

link to the original source icc-cricket.com

Author Abhinav Patel