Cricket Australia CEO Hockley said the increase was a step forward but admitted that there’s ‘still a really big gap, as compared to their male counterparts.
\r\nAustralia’s women cricketers will get a pay rise this year, administrators said while admitting that wages will still fall well short of the men’s game.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Retainers for Big Bash League players will increase about 14 per cent, Cricket Australia said, and players in the domestic cricket league will see a 22 per cent rise.
\r\nAustralia captain Meg Lanning said it was vindication. “When you properly invest in female sport the results follow and everyone benefits -– the game, the fans and the players,” she said.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Cricket Australia CEO Nick Hockley said the increase was a step forward.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
But he admitted that “there’s still a gap, there’s still a really big gap, as compared to their male counterparts”.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
In total, the new package is worth Aus$1.2 million (US$880,000). The average retainer for men playing all formats is said to be about $200,000 per person not including salary.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
“We want to keep striving to make it a really attractive and credible full-time professional career for our up-and-coming female cricketers,” Hockley said.
\r\nThe dispute about equal pay has come into focus in several sports.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
But it has become a high-profile and bitter dispute in United States soccer, where the women’s game is extremely popular.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
The United States Soccer Federation last month said it had offered “identical” contracts to its men’s and women’s national teams as part of efforts to end the dispute.<\/p>\r\n\r\n