A huge piece of news has broken the headlines. It says that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has decided to give equal match fees to men's and women's cricket teams. The tremendous news has been shared by BCCI secretary Jay Shah on Twitter.
If digging into Shah’s tweets, it reads, "I’m pleased to announce BCCI's first step towards tackling discrimination. We are implementing a pay equity policy for our contracted women cricketers. The match fee for both Men and Women Cricketers will be the same as we move into a new era of gender equality in Indian Cricket."
Now, according to the current reports, Harmanpreet Kaur and her team will earn match fees of Rs 15 lakh per test, Rs 6 lakh per ODI, and Rs 3 lakh per T20I, the same as their male counterparts. As the tweet continued, “The women cricketers will be paid the same match fee as their male counterparts. Test (INR 15 lakhs), ODI (INR 6 lakhs), T20I (INR 3 lakhs). Pay equity was my commitment to our women cricketers and I thank the Apex Council for their support.”
Meanwhile, speaking of the Indian women's cricket team, by defeating Sri Lanka in the Asia Cup final at Sylhet by an 8-wicket margin, the Indian women's team just took home the trophy in Bangladesh. At the Commonwealth Games earlier this year in Birmingham, they also brought home cricket's first-ever medal for India.
Furthermore, the BCCI's actions follow the adoption of the same policy by New Zealand Cricket (NZC) earlier this year. A five-year agreement between New Zealand Cricket and the players' organisation ensures equal pay for male and female cricketers in New Zealand. In accordance with the agreement, female players will receive the same match fees as male players in all competitions, both domestically and internationally.
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According to the agreement, the men's and women's professional players will get an estimated $104 million, or 29.75 percent of the NZC's projected earnings over the next five years ($349 million).