The West Indies are the most recent cricket team to pledge to promote women pay parity

The West Indies Players’ Association (WIPA) and Cricket West Indies (CWI) have inked a four-year Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). Of particular note is the MOU’s promise to achieving wage parity for WIPA’s male and female players.

For cricket in the West Indies, this is a momentous day. We are making great progress in building a more progressive and inclusive cricket framework as we restructure remuneration and harmonize performance grading. This action recognizes the enormous contributions made by female players to West Indies cricket and demonstrates our steadfast commitment to gender equality.

“We made significant improvements to our travel policy last year, requiring the West Indies Senior Women’s team to stay in single rooms while on international assignments and travel in business class on all lengthy international flights.”

This is in complete accordance with the rules set down for West Indies Senior Men’s tours. According to CWI President Dr. Kishore Shallow, “Today, with the signing of this MOU, we take another significant stride in narrowing the gender gap within our cricketing community.”

The West Indies are presently pursuing female pay parity in cricket with New Zealand, India, Australia, South Africa, and England. By October 1, 2027, all West Indies cricket players would receive equal match fees for international and regional play, international captain’s allowances, international team prize money, and regional individual prize money, according to the MOU.

“We are honored to set out on this path to equal pay for women and men. The notable rises for our female athletes show how committed we are to recognizing achievement and advancing equity within our cricket community.

The CEO of CWI, Johnny Grave, said, “We are strategically placing a greater emphasis on winning with the increases in prize money, greater rewards for our best performing players, and higher match fees for players in the starting XIs.”

According to CWI, the MOU will also provide prospects for regional and international men’s remuneration to be enhanced, demonstrating the organization’s commitment to recognizing and rewarding performance.

Along with previously unheard-of sums of money up for grabs in regional competitions, top performers in the system will also be eligible for brand-new team and individual incentive prizes.

The dedication to promoting a culture of player development, progress, and high performance is shown by the rise in the top contract band values for men at the international and regional levels.

One of the MOU’s provisions is to provide a consistent assessment procedure for both domestic and international cricket starting on October 1, 2024, by matching the performance grading criteria for international women’s and regional men’s contracts with the existing standards for international men.

“Our players’ union has always made achieving gender parity and equality a strategic goal, and we have definitely succeeded in doing so with our female members. For our membership, this is unquestionably a very historic and joyful moment since the MOU covers the majority of our pay range.

“We are duty bound to conscientiously reward our regional and international players within the constraints of CWI’s budget and agree on policies that will produce and promote world class performances, as we operate within a very fluid cricketing landscape,” WIPA President and CEO Wavell Hinds said in closing.