The BCCI announced the annual contracts of men and women’s cricketers a month apart from each other. While the men’s contracts were announced in April, the women’s contracts were announced in May. Meanwhile, the stark difference in payments has fuelled the BCCI’s pay disparity debate once again. The difference in the figures in the different grade categories highlights the negligence of the board officials towards its women cricketers. While the enterprising numbers in men’s categories indicate BCCI’s preference.

India’s best woman cricketer gets a contract worth Rs 50 lakh annually, while the country’s best male cricketer’s contract is worth Rs 7 crore? The gap in the annual retainership between the genders is staggering — the best male cricketers are assured of a sum that is 14 times that sum the best female cricketers are entitled to.

BCCI”s Pay Disparity: Stark Contrast In Payments

In the newly announced contracts for men’s cricketers, the players in Grade A+ earn 7 crores per year. Grade A players earn five crores, Grade B players earn three crores while those in Grade C earn 1 crore each in the 2020-21 season.

On the other hand, the elite women cricketers in Grade A earn just 50 lakhs while those in Grade B and C earn 30 lakh and 10 lakh each.

The pay gap is huge — in the top category, men get 14 times the sum the women get. In the second category, it is around 17 times (Rs 5 crore for men, Rs 30 lakh for women) and in the third category, it is 30 times (men get Rs 3 crore, women Rs 10 lakh). The men have a fourth category too, worth Rs 1 crore annually. As per the latest figures, the total annual retainership for 25 male players is Rs96 crore, while it is Rs5.1 crore for 19 female cricketers. The number has decreased by three in the women’s cricketers list to what it was in Oct 2019-Sep 2020 season.

The men’s cricketers have many more avenues to earn from in domestic cricket. The Vijay Hazare, Syed Mushtaq Ali tournaments pay the players handsomely. While the women cricketers hardly play any domestic cricket which is another reason behind BCCI’s pay disparity.

Mithali Raj On Pay Disparity

Two years ago, ODI team captain Mithali Raj said she would not argue for pay parity. “Where men’s cricket is today has taken a lot of years to get there and perhaps women’s cricket is going through the same process.  It will take time and it will only get better because the more matches we get to see, the more branding of the sport, the more branding of the players. So once more people get to watch us, the more they will queue up at the stadiums and that’s how you can generate more revenue” she said.

The Indian ODI and T20I skipper recently defended the BCCI once again when it was targeted over gender bias. Mithali and Kaur both praised the BCCI for arranging chartered flights and arranging their travel to the UK along with the men’s cricketers. They play a series in which also involves a Test match against the England women’s team. The Indian cricket team is playing a Test match after seven years. The Indian women’s team also travel to Australia later this year to play a series against the World T20 champions.

BCCI’s indifference on paying the women cricketers their T20 World Cup 2020 cash prize is another example of the board’s negligence towards their women cricketers even if by a small margin. The UK edition of The Telegraph broke the news of the pending payments of the Indian women cricketers who played the T20 World Cup final against Australia in Melbourne in front of 80000 fans at the MCG.

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The BCCI in a statement has assured them to pay the cash prize of USD 500,000 prize money by the end of this week. Meanwhile, individually every 15 players are to receive about $33,000 each.

How It Can Be Lessened?

The pay disparity between men and women cricketers can be lessened by more bilateral tours in the women’s FTP. Be it at home or overseas, the Indian women cricketers should be given more games in the international calendar. The more cricketer the women cricketers play, the more avenues will open up of their earning.

Another significant way to put an end to the pay disparity is the women’s IPL. The BCCI has been working over this since the last few years. It’s time now that the thought should be transferred into action. Not only will the women cricketers become better players and play with overseas superstars, but they will also be able to earn handsomely and cover up for the time they do not play international cricket. A few sponsorships from reputed brands will help in the process. Aakash Chopra spoke about the same in his recent Youtube video, He said that the Women’s Challenger Series should be done away with and a proper women’s IPL should be started even if just with four teams to start with.

Allowing Indian women cricketers to play in the Women’s Big Bash League regularly can be another viable option to reduce the pay disparity between men and women cricketers. It will be interesting to see what steps does BCCI take to lessening the difference which is increasing every season.

Also Read: Indian Women Cricketers To Get T20 World Cup Cash Prize By This Week: BCCI Official