A landmark pay hike for women cricketers

THE International Cricket Council’s announcement of a record $13.88 million prize pool for the 2025 Women’s ODI World Cup marks a watershed moment in the journey towards gender pay parity in sports. The winner will walk away with $4.48 million, surpassing even the men’s 2023 World Cup prize. For women’s cricket — long treated as a sideshow — this is both vindication and validation. India has already taken bold steps by introducing equal match fees for men and women cricketers in 2022. The move was hailed worldwide as a benchmark in progressive sporting governance. Pakistan, too, recently hiked central contracts for its women cricketers. The momentum is unmistakable: women athletes are no longer willing to accept second-class status.