Introduction

Cricket whether played at a national or international level has witnessed a significant pay gap on the basis of gender at one point or another and even continues in most of the nations to date. Although there has been a rise in the overall participation of women in the cricket field by nearly twenty percent there hasn’t been a significant rise in the improvement of the conditions of the players. Some might claim that the shortest format of the game has been a good match for women\’s cricket in the form of an increased ground audience it cannot be stated that it has had any significant effect on women cricket. Female Male cricketers were subjected to the first central pay contracts for the women cricketers in 2015, almost 11 years after their male counterparts were given the same type of central contracts and have been revised only once since then.

Women’s treatment in the Indian sport has always been a manifestation of wider gender inequality and, when seen in the light of recent evolution in the Indian Sporting Industry, especially in Indian Cricket the treatment bestowed upon women is nothing more than a charity when compared to the male counterparts. One such ill-treatment is in the form of the funding gap between male and female cricketers which in simple terms can be stated as the gender-based pay gap in Indian Cricket. Such funding gap has led to fewer opportunities for women cricketers due to incompetent coaching facilities and other necessary facilities required in the cricket world which are already enjoyed by men.

Main Causes Of Gender Pay Gap In Indian Cricket

The main cause that is always highlighted when the question of the Gender Pay Gap in Indian Cricket is raised is the revenue generated by Men’s Cricket. It is usually said that Men Cricket is the only source of revenue and therefore male cricketers are paid more than female cricketers. There is no doubt that this point is valid, but there are factors that led lead to this disparity in the revenue generation which needs to be addressed. These causes are discussed herein.

a) Indian Society’s mindset towards Women in Sports:

The Present-day discrimination and prejudices with respect to women’s cricket can be attributed to the gender biases prevailing in Indian society since time immemorial. Such discrimination is prevalent in the social mindset where a boy is gifted sports equipment like cricket bats, whereas a girl is gifted stuffed soft toys. This shows the mentality of Indian society where female members of the society cannot play cricket or for that matter, any other sport, and all their desire to play any sport is considered a frivolous matter. Celebrations for women’s success in sports are rarely celebrated at the level of that of their male counterparts. No special treatment or attention is given by the media house or sports broadcasters in promoting even the major cricket events because they tend to cater to the demand of the society and Indian women cricket is not one of them. As a result of this minimum coverage, many people are not even aware of the presence of women’s cricket. This kind of orthodox and backward ideology of the Indian society leads to the worsening of the Indian women’s cricket Women Cricket’s condition.

b) Negligence on the part of the Cricket Regulatory Body:

Women Cricket in India is being managed and regulated by BCCI since 2006, after being under the guidance of the Women’s Cricket Association of India for more than three decades. BCCI has always bestowed a very negligent treatment and has not been able to exploit the full potential for women cricket. Women Cricket is often seen as a form of Corporate Social Responsibility and other forms of institutional charity carried out by BCCI as a way to showcase that BCCI is gender-neutral and promotes both men and women cricket. The Board’s behavior towards women cricket affects the generation of revenue in a negative way as it displays a lack of confidence of the concerned authority in women cricket, thereby discouraging potential investors.

c) Participation:

Women Cricket is not given the same participation when compared to men cricket team and plays comparatively way fewer matches than their counterpart. Boards fail to organize a bilateral or tri-party series for women cricket at a regular interval during the calendar year which does not allow them enough opportunities to showcase their talent and create a fan base like the male counterpart. Due to the absence of recognition on the part of the authorities, Indian Women Cricket has failed to attain equal opportunity to participate in a substantial number of matches.

Although there are no set-out provisions of laws or rules and regulation which regulate gender pay disparity in Indian Cricket, there are other laws and official body regulations which have laid down certain rules to maintain gender equality.

1. The International Labour Organization (further referred to as ILO), defines Gender Pay Disparity as the difference between the average wages of men and women engaged in a gainful activity and paid employment. The ILO uses the gender pay gap as a way to monitor gender inequality as well as progressive steps taken towards achieving gender equality at National as well as International Levels in the paid employment sector. According to the India Wage Report, published by the ILO in 2018, Gender Pay Gap has been an obstruction to India’s journey to achieving decent working conditions and society’s growth.

2. India has slipped to the 112th rank in the World Economic Forum Gender Gap Index, 2020 from its previous spot of 108th rank in 2018 as per data published in the latest International Bar Association Global Employment Institute Annual Global Report, thereby increasing disparity in terms of women’s economic participation in workplaces.

3. Article 38(2) of the Indian Constitution, 1949 strives to minimize inequalities in attempts to reduce the lack of equality[1] in income among individuals by ensuring to eliminate inequalities in status, facilities, and opportunities. It tries to promote and secure social and economic justice by working for the welfare of the general public, which includes women cricketers. Therefore Women Cricketers must be provided with equal facilities and opportunities as compared to their male counterparts, in order to improve their performance and capabilities, which would ultimately help in narrowing the pay gap.

4. Article 39 of the Indian Constitution,1949 promises equal pay for equal work for assuring equal pay for equal work for both men and women[2]. It provides that the state shall work towards securing equal pay for equal work for both men and women. This principle implies that persons holding identical posts should not be treated differently in the matter of their pay merely because they belong to different departments. In the present case women, cricketers and men cricketers are both International Athletes and represent India at the Global Stage. Therefore, there should be an equal pay structure.

5. The Equal Remuneration Act, 1976 (further referred to as ERA) aims to prevent gender pay disparity between men and women employees and prohibits differential pay to bars unequal pay to men and women workers[3] for performing the \’same work or work of similar nature\’. Section 4 of the ERA states that it is the duty of the employer to ensure that employees of a particular gender are not paid less than compared to members of the other gender especially when their nature and level of working are similar. The phrase “work of similar nature” is defined as work where the skill, effort, experience, and responsibility required are the same when performed under similar working conditions.

6. The Code on Wages, 2019 (further referred to as Code on Wages) is another law dealing with the gender pay disparity. The legal provision of the Code on Wages aims to bar prohibit prejudice discrimination against employees on the grounds of gender in matters of financial remuneration. The Code on Wages differs from the ERA by not only covering men and women but also the LGBTQ category as well.

It is a well-known fact that a nation, a sector, an industry, or any organization big or small cannot develop to its full capacity unless there is gender equality and all the sectors help in contributing to society. Therefore, women, or for that matter, all genders need to be given equal opportunities to participate and showcase their talent. Cricket is no different from any of such an organization where just and fair treatment of women is necessary as it can never be completely developed without women’s participation.

Before India won the World Cup in 1983, BCCI had no idea that one day the Indian Men’s Team would be a gold mine filled with opportunities. But once the Board started to support and believe in the potential of the men cricket team, a thing took a turn for a bright future and is one of the richest national boards of cricket, while it rides on the return on investments it made on the male team. The Board has to show the same support when it comes to women cricket in order to improve the present state of the national women cricket team. Today, to bring out any change, the first change needs to be financial in nature, and that would include gradually doing away with the wedge that lies between the remuneration paid to male and female cricketers. This would help in narrowing the gender pay gap, and thereby treating women cricket at par with the male cricket team.

-Ishaan Michael

KIIT School of Law