Photo Credit: Professional Cricketers’ Association
#AccelerateAction event celebrates International Women’s Day.
The PCA has released a groundbreaking Women’s Impact Report ‘Accelerating Action for Players’ at an event to celebrate International Women’s Day, which is marked on Saturday 8 March.
#AccelerateAction in Sport celebrated the important date in the calendar at the iconic Nursery Pavilion at Lord’s on Thursday 6 March.
In partnership with the ECB, the event supported the theme of this year’s International Women’s Day – #AcclerateAction. The idea being to bring about urgency in closing the gap between men’s and women’s sport and speed up the process of gender equity.
Opened with a welcome from PCA Chief Executive, Daryl Mitchell, the event included a session hosted by PCA Director of Player Rights and Women’s Cricket, Emma Reid with England’s Kate Cross, who discussed the Women’s Impact Report ‘Accelerating Action for Players’.
The report details the recent advancements in the women’s game and future ambitions of the Association. An overview of progress is detailed alongside a timeline of key events, as the report explains the employment improvements, from first-year rookies to experienced England internationals.
The report, which includes welcomes from England captain Heather Knight and Durham’s Katie Levick, highlights a number of measurables, such as the domestic remuneration pot rising from £720,000 in 2021 to £4 million and starting salaries equalised with the men’s players. The England remuneration pot has quadrupled and across England, domestic and The Hundred there has been a 430% increase in overall remuneration.
It also portrays areas where improvements are still needed such as in The Hundred where the disparity between the men’s and women’s top salaries has increased.
By utilising a combination of the PCA’s Women’s Players’ Committee, pre-season meetings and player surveys as well as the PCA Summit to shape the PCA’s position, significant success has been achieved since the publication of the PCA’s equity report, the Fairer Future paper that was created in May 2021.
The gains of the last five years have been made possible thanks to increased communication with the ECB and a fully engaged playing group that acted collectively and responsibly to support the growth of the game through the Project Darwin working group.
The event also saw Sky Sports reporter Chris Reidy host a panel which included: Olympic athlete Desiree Henry, Women in Sport Trustee Laura Weston, former cricketer and PCA Inclusion Champion Abi Sakande, Surrey cricketer Tash Farrant and Director of Public Relations at Vitality, Alexa Murray.
The event’s second panel was hosted by PCA Director of People, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, Donna Fraser OBE and included: Women in Sport CEO Stephanie Hilborne OBE, former Arsenal and West Brom defender and former PFA Deputy Chief Brendon Batson OBE and former international rugby player and lawyer, Manjinder Nagra.
The closing keynote address was delivered by former British rower, Olympian and sport administrator Annamaire Phelps CBE.
The event also hosted a marketplace of different businesses to aid networking, with Lancashire bowler Phoebe Graham’s ‘TipnFlip’ gender equality consultancy part of the exhibit.
#AccelerateAction in Sport was celebrated at a time of change in women’s cricket in the country. This year marks the start of the new tiered system with eight professional counties, thereby increasing the number of professional female cricketers in England and Wales to 153, growing from 24 in 2020.
PCA Chief Executive, Daryl Mitchell, said: “The Women’s Impact Report shows how dedicated the Association and the wider game has been to enhancing the provision and standards in the women’s game.
“These changes would not have been possible without joined up thinking and a strong, robust relationship with the ECB, recognising that collaboration was needed over a prolonged period of time to improve cricket in England and Wales for our professional women’s cricketers.”
PCA Director of Player Rights and Women’s Cricket, Emma Reid, said: “Releasing the Women’s Impact Report highlights the results of having a truly engaged group of players who have provided constructive thoughts and guidance to help shape the growth of the women’s game.
“The figures in the report are a result of many years of hard work and are testament to the importance of current and future professional cricketers. However, there is still work to do in conjunction with the ECB as we collaboratively make strides towards gender equity.”
PCA Director of People, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, Donna Fraser OBE, said: “It gives me great pleasure to see everyone at Lord’s celebrating our #AccelerateAction in Sport event for International Women’s Day but it also sends a reminder that the game should continue to be driven by the standards set out by the ICEC report as we aspire to make those recommendations a reality.
“Gender equity in cricket can only be achieved when all professional players have equal opportunity to build viable careers and be the best cricketer they can be.”
England vice captain, Nat Sciver-Brunt, said: “Every year there has been significant improvements to the contractual and commercial conditions of England players. The bar is constantly being raised and player views are being listened to and prioritised.”
England and Somerset spinner, Charlie Dean, said: “We are no longer grateful to just have a contract. With the PCA leading the players’ voice, we trust them to continue representing the collective for current and future generations.”
Lancashire batter, Eve Jones, said: “For years I had a full-time job alongside playing top level domestic cricket as an amateur. The progress made in the past five years has been astounding and we now have a really competitive system domestically that is increasing the pool of top-level players.”
View the PCA’s Women’s Impact Report ‘Accelerating Action for Players’.
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Name of Author: Professional Cricketers Association
The Professional Cricketers’ Association (PCA), founded in 1967 by former England fast bowler Fred Rumsey as the Cricketers’ Association, represents past and present first-class cricketers in England and Wales. In the 1970s, the PCA established a standard employment contract and minimum wage for professional cricketers. It also helped create a pension scheme in 1995 and launched the magazine All Out Cricket and the ACE UK Educational Programme in 2002.
