(Reuters) – India’s men and women cricket teams will be paid the same appearance fees to represent their country, Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) Secretary Jay Shah said on Thursday.
The agreement will see women’s players at international level receive the same match fees as men across all formats – 1,500,000 rupees ($18,225) for tests, 600,000 rupees for one-day internationals and 300,000 for Twenty20 internationals.
The announcement was made on Thursday by Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI)’s Secretary Jay Shah. “We are implementing pay equity policy for our contracted BCCI women cricketers,” he said. “The match fee for both men and women cricketers will be same as we move into a new era of gender equality in Indian cricket.” Earlier this year, the BCCI said that a fully fledged women’s Indian Premier League (IPL) could begin as early as next year.
“We are implementing pay equity policy for our contracted BCCI women cricketers,” Shaw wrote in a post on Twitter. “The match fee for both men and women cricketers will be same as we move into a new era of gender equality in Indian cricket.”
Indian women’s cricketers currently earn 400,000 Indian rupees for test appearances and 100,000 for T20s and ODIs, and also play less cricket than their male counterparts.
Shah did not say whether there would be changes to the contract system for women.
Under their current annual contracts, women cricketers in the highest bracket earn 5 million rupees, while Grade B players take home 3 million and Grade C, 1 million.
Men in the Grade A+ bracket are paid 70 million, with those in Grades A, B and C taking home 50 million, 30 million and 10 million respectively, meaning the lowest graded male cricketers still earn twice as much as top-tier women cricketers.
India’s women’s team is ranked fourth in both the ODI and T20I rankings and beat Sri Lanka in the final of the Asia Cup this month to claim a seventh title.
