Netizens Slam BCCI Over Gender Pay Disparity in Women Cricketers' Salaries

The BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) declared the central contracts for women's cricketers for the 2020-21 season on Wednesday. The contracts were given to a total of 19 cricketers, who were divided into three categories: A, B, and C. Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana, and Poonam Yadav were among the top players who will receive 50 lakhs.

Players in category B are awarded Rs 30 lakhs, while those in category C are awarded Rs 10 lakhs. On the other hand, men's cricketers are divided into four categories: the top A category earning Rs 7 crore and the C category earning Rs 1 crore.

It's no surprise that the wage disparity between men's and women's cricketers is troubling, and it's not the first time that fans have brought it up on social media. Soon after the BCCI released the list of contract players, Twitterati shared their dissatisfaction over the pay disparity, believing that women cricketers who represent the country deserved to be compensated fairly.

Smriti Mandhana, India's star female cricketer, previously expressed her thoughts on this issue. She said, “We need to understand that the revenue we get is through men’s cricket. The day women’s cricket starts earning revenue, I will be the first person to say that we need the same thing. Right now, we cannot say that,” said Mandhana.

She added "I don't believe any of my teammates are concerned about the pay disparity because the only thing on their minds right now is winning matches for India. We need to attract a crowd and generate sales. That is what we want to do. All else would fall into place if that happens."
Here are fans reactions:

Not a respectful remuneration at all! Shameful, I would say. Request @KirenRijiju to look into this matter. Such a low salary amounts to gender bias, nothing else. Any logic in its favour would be utter nonsense.

— Urbane Guru (@urbane_guru) May 19, 2021

Why there is so much variance in pay? This is unacceptable, the team has been really consistent with being finalists in 2017 ODI and 2020 T20 world cups. More games they play more competitive they will become. The pay structure is much lesser than even men's D grade. Pathetic.

— Sudhir Vitta (@suirvi) May 20, 2021

Should be paid more. Women’s team deserve it. They reached ODI finals, T20 finals and are continuously putting in more efforts. @BCCI should consider the change @BCCIWomen

— Abhi Panchal (@iamabhi1909) May 19, 2021