‘Time for other sports to look at themselves’
White Ferns captain Sophie Devine hopes other sports bodies will now address gender pay gaps, following a landmark agreement that will see women’s cricketers earn equal match fees to the men.
On Tuesday a new collective agreement, combining men and women, was announced by New Zealand Cricket, the six major associations and the NZ Cricket Players’ Association. It will see equal match fees for women, a boost in base retainers, more women’s domestic contracts, and more investment into women’s pathways.
‘‘Hopefully it’s the start of something special for women’s sport,’’ Devine said. ‘‘We’ve all seen how much women’s sport is grown, not only here in New Zealand, but also around the world. When you start putting money and resources into it the results are spectacular.’’
Cricket had one of the largest pay gaps in New Zealand sport before Tuesday’s announcement. Women faced an 88 to 100% gap at the domestic level.
In rugby, Super Rugby Pacific retainers range from $75,000 to $195,000, with regular All Blacks earning above that on a tiered scale. Super Rugby Aupiki players were meant to receive approximately $6000 for the Coviddelayed, reducedmatch competition in March. Internationally, the sevens men and women are on nearly equal footing, but not for 15s.
The Black Ferns’ base retainer is about $35,000 with the highest paid players earning approximately $120,000. Appearance fees, and other benefits are added on top. For All Blacks, top players currently earn $1 million plus, which is due to increase with NZ Rugby’s new Silver Lake deal.
At domestic rugby level, the gap is currently 100%. Men get paid to play NPC by their provincial unions, while women in the Farah Palmer Cup are considered amateur, and aren’t paid.
NZ Football closed the gap for international players in 2018, while the new Tauihi domestic basketball league is paying women equal to men.
Women in Rugby Aotearoa spokesperson Alice Soper hopes New Zealand Cricket’s decision to close the gap will ‘‘raise the bar for what is possible for women in sport’’.
‘‘In women’s sport, the rising tide of pay equity lifts all boats. As each sport strengthens their offer, it puts pressure on others to up their game. Once we see what is possible in one code, we can take confidence in advocating for our own.’’
Women in Sport Aotearoa chief executive Rachel Froggatt congratulated NZ Cricket, the major associations and the players’ association for their ‘‘outstanding work’’ on achieving pay equity for women.
MindTheGap – an organisation that works towards closing the ethnic and gender pay gaps in New Zealand – recognised the significance of Tuesday’s announcement by cricket bodies.
Co-founder Dellwyn Stuart said the cricket decision was a good example of ‘‘righting historic wrongs’’.
‘‘While it is hard to believe we are still paying women less than men in parts of New Zealand, it is great to see this has been not only recognised as wrong, but action has been taken to fix the unfairness.’’
MindTheGap has established a register for organisations to commit to closing the gender pay gap. No sports bodies are currently on the register.