If you’re an Australian woman thinking of a career as a professional cricketer, you might want to have a chat to your doctor about your methods of contraception.
Female cricketers are being asked to sign a ‘no pregnancy’ clause that guarantees they are not pregnant when commencing their 12-month contracts with the National Cricket League.
By comparison, male cricketers are given leave to fly home when their wives or partners give birth, while women working for Cricket Australia off the field benefit from between four to 12 weeks paid maternity leave.
It’s one of many startling disparities in conditions between men and women in the league – including a $230,000 gap in their minimum pay – revealed by The Australian today.
The differences are outlined in a pay submission from Australian Cricket Association, leaked to the newspaper, that was contributed as part of their ongoing collective bargaining negotiations with Cricket Australia.
“(Women) have to ‘warrant’ that they are not, to the best of their knowledge, pregnant when they sign their contract to play for Australia, which in itself is contrary to acceptable employer behaviour in any other workplace,” the document seen by The Australian reads.
“(Women) are expressly excluded from Cricket Australia’s parental leave policy while other female members who work at CA’s head office may have the benefit of between four 0r 12 weeks of paid parental leave.”
Aside from the pregnancy promise, women must also agree to single year contracts – whereas the men enjoy multi-year deals – and a number of other bizarre behavioural standards.
“Our female members find it outdated at best and rather condescending that they can only sign one year contracts, making life planning very difficult, while men can sign multi-year contracts,” the document claims.
