BCCI on Thursday released the annual player contracts for cricketers. A new A+ category was introduced and included some of the ace players including Captain Virat Kohli and offered a new salary of whopping Rs 7 crore.
The newly introduced tier has five names and contains all male players. These contracts are applicable from October 2019 to September 2020.
A gaping disparity was evident in the payment brackets of women and men athletes, which begs the question of whether the BCCI too got bitten by the ‘Gender Bias’ bug. Grades, A, B and C have been described for women, while the men’s contract has four Grades, A+, A, B and C.
The payment bracket for men is currently set at Grade A+ (â¹7 crores), A (â¹5 crore), B (â¹3 crore) and C (â¹1 crore).
Pay upgrade for Rahul and Saha; no Dhoni in the list of players contracted by the BCCIhttps://t.co/YKld4RoR0p pic.twitter.com/w2KKJ5ECwV
â ESPNcricinfo (@ESPNcricinfo) January 16, 2020
Whereas the pay for women cricketers starts at Grade A (â¹50 lakh), Grade B (â¹30 lakh), Grade C (â¹10 lakh). At a time when women all over the world are campaigning for equal wages for men and women, BCCI’s move seems not only appalling but glaringly impudent.
#TeamIndia Senior Women retainership fee structure:Grade A players to receive INR 50 lacs eachGrade B players to receive INR 30 lacs eachGrade C players to receive INR 10 lacs each pic.twitter.com/u05YDFocWN
â BCCI (@BCCI) March 7, 2018
Netizens took to Twitter to express their disappointment and call out the BCCI’s misogyny and bias.
Dear @BCCI please show your appreciation for women’s cricket by reducing this appalling pay gap. And please negotiate contracts for telecast of their matches. We have an excellent team that a lot of us fans regret not being able to watch perform regularly. pic.twitter.com/rlPMmuTtcU
â Nikhil Mehra (@TweetinderKaul) March 7, 2018
BCCI need to at least update women’s payment up to half of men’s pay.@BCCIWomen @BCCI pic.twitter.com/iHwuvHi77V
â GyanPC (@GyanPC1) January 19, 2020
The country has always been more enthusiastic about men’s cricket tournaments, worshipping cricketers like war heroes. This, however, cannot be a reason for the pay discrimination.
The question here is on what basis are the pay brackets decided? Jut like men, women cricketers too put out equal efforts while playing the sport and leave no stone unturned in making India proud.
A 10 fold pay difference between male and female cricketers is unacceptable under any circumstance. Gender difference should neither be a basis for judging a sportsperson’s capabilities nor should it be the basis of discrimination when it comes to their pay.
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