Anjum Chopra Says A Pay Disparity Between Male And Female Cricketers Exist Because Women Haven’t Won Enough. We Think That’s Rubbish
I have come to realise that when you’re a woman and a feminist, chances are that you’re going to be questioned for your beliefs more number of times than you can keep a count of. Be it at social gatherings, in office spaces or sometimes even at your own dinner table, the prejudice of the society against women has trickled its way into the minds of most of the people around, mostly men.But it’s not limited to them alone. A few strong women seem to have lost the concept of equality by staying in this patriarchal society for a little too long. Case in point, cricketer Anjum Chopra who recently spoke about the pay disparity in men and women cricketers.
Addressing the issue that has plagued women for years even after they have moved ahead in their professions that were once only open for men, women are still largely underpaid and it is no different when it comes to the most loved sport of the country, cricket. We live in a space where the male cricketers have been earning figures in crores, where as the women cricketers are struggling to even make lakhs.
And it was a debate on this very issue when Anjum Chopra came out sounding absolutely silly as she tried to reason out why women get paid less than their male counterparts. She said, “I do not know why this has become a discussion point in such a big manner because we must remember that Indian women’s team has never won a World Cup. Men’s team has.”
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Full schedule for ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2021 Announced-#TuesdayThoughtshttps://t.co/HWMvLYyrIb
— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) March 31, 2020
Defending the Australian women’s team that earns the same amount as their male cricketers, saying that they have been champions and won several titles to be rewarded with equal pay, we were stunned at the kind of delusion even a celebrated cricketer like her harbours. And we say this after witnessing a pay parity that runs into crores in the figures earned by men and women here. In fact, the BCCI contracts allow A grade women cricketers to pocket a salary of about 50 lakhs, where as men play in figures ranging between 5 to 7 crores.
Defending her poorly substantiated case, Anjum further said, “First and foremost they should compare themselves to what the best women’s team in the world is getting-that is the Australian team. I think that will be a more fair assessment of comparison rather than being compared to men’s counterparts. Men’s cricket is the pinnacle because what Indian men’s team draws, I do not think any team in the world draws that, even men.”
She then said, “In our case, the Australian women’s cricket draws the maximum salary. And mind you the women’s Australian team gets as equal pay as their men’s team. But their women’s team has won the T20 World Cup and the 50-over format World Cup. So let’s compete with our own gender first.” Except, we can’t possibly turn a blind eye to the fact that men have been thrown into professions and sports as such for centuries while women joined much later, and at the least need to be compensated in full. Be it glamour industry or sports, women have always gone by unrecognised and underpaid and it needs to change.
Which is why, as Anjum concluded by saying that, “I think it is a brilliant thing that Australian women are getting paid equally as men. And this also means that Indian women can also get paid equally, but what is the reason that we are not getting, that is because we have not won a World Cup,” and we could neither relate nor appreciate this coming from a woman, who in a flash of a second turned a blind eye to the struggles women have faced, disregarding all the hard work they put in, to reduce it to a single win.
