Gender inequality in Bangladesh cricket laid bare, again

In the past few months, the women's cricketers of Bangladesh have faced gross neglect from two of the leading cricketing entities in the country – the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) and the Cricketers Welfare Association of Bangladesh (CWAB) – in two different instances.

The BCB, the game's governing body in Bangladesh, failed to arrange any international series for the national women's team since they qualified for the ICC Women's World Cup in the qualifiers event in April.

Because of this, Nigar and Co will travel to India next month for the mega event without any real match practice. The BCB's solution for it – arranging a few practice matches for the women's team players against the men's U-15 side this month at the BKSP.

Meanwhile, CWAB recently held a few meetings ahead of its upcoming election on September 4, where many current and former men's national team cricketers were present, however, no women's cricketers were in attendance.

The neglect from the BCB must be disappointing for the women's cricketers, however, it could not have been a surprise as when it comes to ensuring equity in men's and women's cricket, the BCB lags severely behind the global curve.

Right now, India, New Zealand, Australia and South Africa give the same match fee for men's and women's cricketers while other countries are working towards it. Meanwhile, a significant pay gap remains between the men's and women's teams in Bangladesh, and there is hardly any talks of reducing it.

However, the neglect from CWAB should sting worse for the women's cricketers, as unlike the BCB, this organisation, which has been operational since 2004, is run by the cricketers for the cricketers in Bangladesh.

Therefore, not getting invited for the meetings makes it apparent that for this organisation, or at least for the people running it, women's cricketers are an afterthought at best.

This blatant neglect was captured perfectly by the women's team captain Nigar Sultana Joty in a one-lined post on Facebook on Friday morning, which read, "There is a difference between a cricketer and a women cricketer, my friend."

All-rounder Rumana Ahmed then followed it up with a much more detailed rant, where she questioned, "Recently, there has been much discussion about CWAB. While many male cricketers were seen involved, there was not a single female cricketer in sight. So, where do we stand?"

When contacted by The Daily Star, Rumana claimed that they were not even communicated to attend any CWAB meetings.

"We are still unclear about how CWAB works. They arranged a programme a few days ago but we were not invited. In fact, there were no discussions about us… It's about valuing women's cricketers. At this stage of my career, I'm feeling a lack of it," said Rumana, who even claimed that she doesn't even know whether she can vote in the upcoming CWAB election.

According to CWAB convenor Salim Shahed, the BCB contracted cricketers can apply for permanent membership at the organisation by paying an annual fee and if the women's cricketers apply and pay their dues, they can vote in the next election. They could also pay a hefty one-time sum of Tk 1,00,000 to gain a life-time membership.

In the last women's contract, which expired on June 30 this year, 18 were under central contract and another 30 were under a national contract.

Meanwhile, men's cricketer Mohammad Mithun, who attended all those CWAB meetings, claimed the anger of his female counterparts was the result of miscommunication.

"We have an ad-hoc committee right now. For any meeting, they are responsible to invite players. The ad-hoc committee also hadn't invited us. We went there out of our own accord.

"I think there is a misunderstanding. As they weren't present there, they didn't know what was happening. So, I think it's an emotional outburst."

Whether it is passed off as an emotional outburst, or be seen as a cry for equality, the issue must be addressed soon otherwise these women's cricketers who gave the country its first triumph at the Asia Cup in 2018, will continue to feel neglected and cornered.