In talks with PCB to narrow pay gap between male, female cricketers: Bismah Maroof

Monitoring Desk

KARACHI: Pakistan Women’s Cricket Team Captain Bismah Maroof on Saturday disclosed that she has been in talks with the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to address the significant gap between male and female payers’ pay.

“We are in talks with the board and I feel they also have plans to address this issue,” Maroof revealed in a post-practice session press conference. “I cannot discuss the details of our talks as yet, but I do believe something will pan out soon,” Maroof said when asked how much of a raise female players expected to get.

It has been learnt that while male cricketers in Pakistan make nearly $77,000 per annum, women only make $12,000. “The pay gap is huge. Another problem female cricketers face is that they only get a daily allowance when playing a domestic game, and no match fee,” Maroof said.

“If they are given a match fee in the future, it would make a big difference for the girls.” In lobbying for egalitarian pay, Maroof is following in the footsteps of her Indian counterpart, Mathali Raj, who was the first to question the pay gap between male and female cricketers during the 2017 Cricket World Cup.

In a 2017 news report, Indian news outlet Scroll.in had mentioned that Raj expected that India reaching the Women’s World Cup final should have acted as a game-changer for women’s cricket in India. The Indian skipper had stated that her team’s success should lead to financial gains as well as the same amount of respect their male counterparts enjoy.