The Sunday Mail
Online Reporter
Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) is moving swiftly to address the gender imbalances in the national game, which has seen them awarding eight Lady Chevrons key players with central contracts.
The development comes at a time when President Mnangagwa revealed during the welcome ceremony of the 2021 Women’s World Cup qualifier at Harare Sports Club last Tuesday, that Government is pushing for equal opportunities and remuneration for women in sport.
“For too long, in too many sports across the globe, there hasn’t been enough attention paid to the women’s side of sport.
“There is a need for radical change in the status, and profile of our women’s sports, so that women’s sporting success is routinely held in the same high esteem as that of males.
“The professionalisation of women’s sport, and the closing of the gender prize money gap, are crucial steps forward,” said President Mnangagwa.
The call by the President comes at a time when there is deliberate policy, under the National Development Strategy 1 (NDS1) to promote inclusive participation of women in sport and all areas of the economy.
As part of heeding Government’s call of equality and inclusivity in sport, ZC chairman, Tavengwa Mukuhlani told The Sunday Mail that his organisation has since awarded eight key players of the Lady Chevrons with central contracts, just like their male counterparts.
“It was very heartwarming to listen to the President talk about the imbalances and inequalities between men and women in sport, but of course him focusing on emancipation of the lady athlete.
“For us as an organisation it helps us a lot as it means we can influence policy in terms of how the direction of the policy is taken.
“From ZC’s point of view, we have turned our Lady Chevrons into a professional outfit, we now have eight players, which was not the case before, they were part time and we are hoping to increase the number so that they are fully focused on playing cricket,” said Mukuhlani.
With the Lady Chevrons being recently awarded an ODI and Test Cricket Status, Mukuhlani revealed that there will be more international matches for the women’s cricket national side.
