Cricket West Indies (CWI) and the West Indies Gamers’ Affiliation (WIPA) have signed a “historic” four-year MoU to advertise gender pay fairness inside West Indies cricket. A media launch mentioned that the MoU “outlines plans to attain parity in worldwide and regional match charges, worldwide captain’s allowances, worldwide crew prize cash and regional particular person prize cash for all West Indies cricketers by 1 October 2027.”
The MoU aligns the efficiency grading standards for worldwide ladies’s and regional males’s contracts with the established requirements for worldwide males, guaranteeing a uniform analysis course of throughout home and worldwide cricket from October 1, 2024. Calling it a “groundbreaking improvement,” the discharge additional mentioned CWI needs to create a extra equitable taking part in area and an setting the place “expertise is valued no matter gender”.
The MoU is for the interval between October 1, 2023 to September 30, 2027 and contains all agreements in respect of participant remuneration, and up to date phrases and situations throughout the West Indies system.
A number of the vital options agreed upon within the MoU are:
“This can be a historic day for West Indies cricket,” Dr Kishore Shallow, president of CWI, mentioned. “As we overhaul the compensation buildings and align efficiency grading, we’re taking a big step in the direction of making a extra inclusive and progressive cricket framework. This step displays our unwavering dedication to gender equality and acknowledges the immense contributions of feminine gamers to West Indies cricket.
“Within the previous 12 months, we undertook substantial enhancements to our journey coverage, mandating that the West Indies Senior Girls’s crew journey business-class on all prolonged worldwide flights and are accommodated in single rooms throughout worldwide assignments. This aligns seamlessly with the established coverage for West Indies Senior Males’s excursions. Right now, with the signing of this MOU, we take one other vital stride in narrowing the gender hole inside our cricketing group.”
The discharge additional acknowledged that the “MoU additionally introduces alternatives for compensation enhancement for each worldwide and regional males, and new crew and particular person incentive bonuses for the highest performers within the system. The highest contract band values for males at worldwide and regional degree have additionally been elevated, underscoring the dedication to fostering a tradition of participant development, enchancment and excessive efficiency.”
“Reaching gender parity and fairness has all the time been a strategic goal of our gamers’ union, and we have actually achieved so with our feminine members,” Wavell Hinds, president and CEO of WIPA mentioned. “Definitely, this can be a really historic and thrilling time for our membership because the MOU addresses most ranges of our pay scale. As we function inside a really fluid cricketing panorama, we’re responsibility certain to rigorously reward our regional and worldwide gamers throughout the constraints of CWI’s price range and agree on insurance policies that can produce and promote world class performances.”
