MELBOURNE — Australia’s top sports federations have pledged to achieve gender equality in pay for athletes and administrators as part of a blueprint issued by a local advocacy group.
The CEOs of Cricket Australia, the National Rugby League and Football Federation Australia, have signed up to the “Pathway to Pay Equality” report by the Male Champions of Change Institute (MCC), which details a milestone-based approach to achieving pay equity between male and female athletes.
Other signatories include Golf Australia, Swimming Australia and Tennis Australia, which organizes the Australian Open Grand Slam.
“Many of our elite women athletes are among the most successful on the world stage,” Kate Palmer, CEO of the federal government’s sports funding agency Sport Australia, said in a media release from the MCC on Monday.
“We are a sports-loving nation, we are championing a system-wide reset in the way we support, pay and reward our female athletes. The benefits to our economy, our community and our athletes will be exponential.”
Having largely neglected women’s sport for decades, a number of Australia’s major federations have made significant investments in recent years, establishing professional leagues in cricket, soccer and Australian Rules football.
The initiatives have opened up pathways to more full-time careers in women’s sport, while hiking salaries from a low base. — Reuters
