From our friends at Women’s Agenda, comes this piece on the pay deals being reach for women in sports and while still lagging the men, what’s happening is some progress.
It’s been a long time coming, but a sporting team in New South Wales has made the record books by becoming the country’s first domestic women’s team to be fully professional.
That team is the NSW Cricket Team, the Lendlease Breakers, with Leadlease making the landmark deal to expand its sponsorship and ensure the women are paid as full-time employees
At the media launch at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Thursday, Cricket NSW CEO Andrew Jones said he believes it’s the start of a national trend, and that every state in Australia will soon be able to boast a fully paid women’s team.
Lendlease’s Global Head of Diversity and Inclusion Chris Lamb said his firm has been watching as the quality of, and interest in, women’s cricket has significantly improved, but conditions for players have not.
“We are committed to a level playing field giving women and men the same chance to succeed as we know this hasn’t always been the case for women in our industry and society. It’s time for the sporting industry to do the same,” he said.
Each Lendlease Breakers player will earn at least $35,000, the national minimum wage, with some earning more than $100,000.
It’s not much when compared with what the men are earning, but it’s a start and hopefully the beginning of a major trend.
Indeed, it significantly changes things for the players.
As Southern Stars wicketkeeper Alyssa Healy told the ABC, she was working and studying full-time when she first started playing cricket. The deal offers the squad the flexibility to train more often and focus on the sport.
That’ll create better players. And a better competition for those of us working at home.
The move is also the latest in a series of announcements to see women getting paid in sport.
Last month Netball Australia said its players in the new national league would see their minimum wage doubled to $27,375.
At the national level, Cricket Australia announced in April that Australian-contracted players would earn a minimum of $80,000 plus match fees.
The AFL, meanwhile, still has some work to do — having set a minimum wage of just $5,000 for players in its new women’s league.
