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“At every stage of the game, we have been battling with the status quo … The bottom line is that we have reached a point where the absolute imperative must be to change the governance of our game ...”
more specifically, about the pay disparity and how they previously travelled in “last class” , while their male counterparts travelled business class. M ottley, who was involved in the opening of the Women’s World Cup in Paris, France in 2019, said women’s sports have been growing in popularity internationally, including in football. Giving validity to her argument, the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) reported in August 2023, an almost 30 per cent increase in attendance at the Women’s World Cup over that of 2019.
“[Emerita Professor] the Most
Vice-Chancellor Professor Sir Hilary Beckles in conversation with Dr. Akshai Mansingh , Dean, Faculty of Sport
Honourable Eudine Barriteau contextualised the circumstances of women in cricket better than anybody else as she did in her 2015 report. The problem is that in 18 months’ time, it would be a decade since that report came. The problem is that we still have almost a disdain for them. The Government of Barbados, when it came to my attention, removed the awful discriminatory act where only the men who played for West Indies benefitted from the duty-free cars. The women who play for West Indies now benefit from duty-free cars as well. “Even if you say, as some [may argue], there’s a lot more money in the men’s game, the truth is that West Indies have already been relegated to two tests and two or three one days. The money has already started to diminish, but the men are still paid [at a certain level] and the women are paid three to five times less; indeed, men are paid more for a regional game than the women get for playing in a non-regional game. I don’t know if it has changed in the last few months, but something has to be fundamentally wrong where a woman gets $200 for a regional game and the men $900, or women get $750 for non-regional ODI or T20, and the men get $2,500 and $4,000 for those games respectively. Even if you feel you can’t get there in one fell swoop, women certainly shouldn’t be paid a quarter or a fifth or a third of what is being paid to the men.”
In the September 2023 International Cricket Council (ICC) rankings, West Indies men were eighth in the Test, tenth in the One Day International (ODIs), and seventh in the Twenty20 (T20). For West Indies women, they were ranked sixth in both the ODIs and T20s. The Prime Minister said many Caribbean people have declared their displeasure by staying away from games involving West Indies Men when they are played in the region which, she said, undermines arguments about the financial basis for the continuance of the current payment structure. In August, slow ticket sales prompted the Government of Barbados to sponsor 1,500 students to watch the two ODIs between West Indies and India at the country’s Kensington Oval after only 600 tickets were initially purchased by patrons. “This region can do better and must do better … We will not do well until we remove all vestiges of discrimination from this game in the same way that we must remove all vestiges of discrimination from our societies. That is who we are! If others globally don’t want to do it, then we must lead the way.”
Members of the sports community attended the lecture.
CHILL NEWS 37
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