Why equal match fee is the first step in the right direction for BCCI

Brut India

BCCI secretary Jay Shah's latest announcement on pay equity means the Indian women cricketers will take home the same match fee as their male counterparts. But is it enough or there's more to it? Brut explains.   Breakfast with Champions

Transcript

00:00Will India's women cricketers be paid the same as the men in blue?

00:03Technically yes, but there's a catch.

00:05BCCI Secretary Jay Shah said that to end gender inequality,

00:09the women will get the same match fee as the men now.

00:13Amid the ongoing T20 World Cup,

00:15this is a huge announcement coming from the world's richest cricket body, BCCI.

00:19We need to look at the women's cricket.

00:21Women's cricket is also now coming into the forefront.

00:24The BCCI Secretary implemented a pay equity policy

00:28for India's centrally contracted women cricketers.

00:31Under this policy, the women will earn Rs 15 lakh for a test match,

00:34Rs 6 lakh for one-day international matches,

00:37and Rs 3 lakh for every T20 international match.

00:40This is a significant hike from the flat Rs 1 lakh that the women cricketers get

00:45for every ODI and T20 international match,

00:48and Rs 4 lakh for every test match.

00:50The Indian women's cricket team has been in splendid form in recent months.

00:54Led by Harmanpreet Kaur, the women in blue clinched a historic silver

00:58at the 2022 Commonwealth Games.

01:00They followed it up with a record-clean sweep

01:02in the ODI series against England in September.

01:04Earlier this month, Indian women beat Sri Lanka

01:07to win their seventh Asia Cup title.

01:11Shah described BCCI's move as the first step towards tackling discrimination.

01:16But here's the catch.

01:17As far as the contracts are concerned,

01:19there are no changes to the BCCI's annual contracts for the women players.

01:23The contracts are divided into three categories.

01:26Grade A, which pays Rs 50 lakh annually,

01:29Grade B, which pays Rs 30 lakh per year,

01:31and Grade C, which pays Rs 10 lakh per year.

01:34Six cricketers fall in the Grade A category,

01:37including captain Harmanpreet Kaur,

01:38vice-captain Smriti Mandhana,

01:40and leg-spinner Poonam Yadav.

01:42In comparison, male cricketers are divided into four categories.

01:46The A-plus category, comprising the likes of Virat Kohli,

01:50Rohit Sharma, and Jaspreet Pumra,

01:52earn Rs 7 crore per year.

01:54Then come the Grade A players,

01:56like KL Rahul, Ravichandran Ashwin,

01:58Ravindra Jareja, and Rishabh Bant.

02:00They make Rs 5 crore annually.

02:02The Grade B and C male cricketers

02:04pocket Rs 3 crore and Rs 1 crore, respectively.

02:08In comparison, women cricketers in India

02:10still have a long way to go

02:11before they're actually paid as much as the men.

02:14Earlier this year, New Zealand cricket

02:15became the first cricket board in the world

02:17to introduce equal pay for its men and women cricketers.

02:20Meanwhile, Cricket Australia is also working

02:23to do away with gender disparity.

02:25If you keep the contracts and the match fees aside,

02:27the announcement of the first women's IPL,

02:29which is supposed to take place next year,

02:32is another high point for women's cricket in India.

02:50For more UN videos visit www.un.org

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