Olympics Begin In
:
Days
:
Hours
:
Mins
 
Secs
Begin typing your search above and press return to search.

Women's Cricket

"Shafali Verma shone on big stage by accident, not design" — Snehal Pradhan at Equal Hue initiative launch

The Equal Hue report is a study undertaken over the last five years to understand and address inequalities in the way women's cricket is played in India and to suggest reforms.

Young Indian cricket star Shafali Verma and cricket commentator Snehal Pradhan
X

Young Indian cricket star Shafali Verma and cricket commentator Snehal Pradhan 

By

Soumya Bontra

Updated: 18 May 2022 12:40 PM GMT

On International Women's Day today, a very special project called the Equal Hue initiative, was launched by an expert panel to reform women's cricket in India.

A host of expert panellists - Namrata Parekh (Co-Founder & Director, Meraki), Deepthi Bopaiah (CEO, GoSports Foundation), Sharda Ugra (Renowned Sports Journalist), Snehal Pradhan (Former Indian Cricketer & Cricket Commentator) and Arshi Yasin (CEO & Co-Founder, The Bridge) were among those to be part of the discussion, which was moderated by Charu Sharma.

The 'Equal Hue' report is a study undertaken over the last five years to understand and address inequalities in the way women's cricket is played in India and to suggest reforms

When Charu Sharma initiated talks about opportunities for women in sports from rural areas, Snehal Pradhan brought light upon how Indian women's cricket is the second-highest viewed sport in the country and yet young talent Shafali Verma shone on the big stage by accident and not by design.

Arshi Yasin, who herself comes from a rural part of the country, mentioned how girls in these areas are not encouraged to take up sports due to lack of exposure as well as the social belief that girls don't play sports.

Adding more to the conversation, renowned journalist Sharda Ugra said, "We have a lot of urban views when it comes to women's sports but when you look further inside, even today girls are struggling to participate in sports. Right now, women's sports are on a tipping point and it's the right time to bring everyone's attention towards it."

Talking more about barriers, lack of investment and visibility remain the reasons for the lack of development in women's sports. The panellists equally agreed on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) being a way forward when it comes to investing in women's cricket and sports in general.

To give more clarity on what CSR can do, Deepti Boapiah explained, "CSR brings Corporate India's funds into sports, which helps in the growth of that particular sport from the base. Now, we need these corporates to come together and build women's cricket in the country as well as women's sports in general."

Adding more to Deepti's point, Namrata Parekh focused on Equal Hue's motto and how it can divert brands and companies towards women's cricket. "Engage, enable and enhance are the three pillars of the Equal Hue project. It will engage 30 thousand girls in the women's cricket ecosystem, enable them to access better training facilities and enhance women's cricket, which will encourage brands to invest in the game."

Discussing the media's role in women's sports, Arshi said. "We should not comfort ourselves with the slow growth of women's sports in the country. There is so much more that needs to be done when it comes to women's cricket to women's sports. According to a 2019 research, media only spends 2% on women's cricket coverage which is lower than the junior men's team."

Explaining the problem for the lack of coverage, she said, "Investments towards women's cricket comes from individual's interests and not as a company policy. A lot needs to be done every day to see the effect of women's sport at a rural level as well."

Adding to this, Sharda Ugra said, "Percentage of women in media is smaller compared to that of men. Unfortunately, the media also focuses on success and there are not enough games for all sports except men's cricket, to generate the results everyone wants. However, work needs to be done at the base level (sports bodies) and not just by the media."

Concluding the session, moderator Charu Sharma said that change in women's sports will be like a domino effect. One big brand investing in women's cricket will pave the path for the massive growth of women's sports in India as well.

Next Story