By We must leave this thing of financial challenges when it comes to women, when it comes to men, we pay and there is no financial challenges, when women must be paid we talk about financial challenges. We should work our things in this fashion that, men and women get paid the same.
Women in sports have been on the receiving end of unequal pay compared to men in sports, to this, the Minister of Sports, Arts, Culture and Recreation Mr Gayton McKenzie has committed to fighting for equal pay.
As the Proteas Women were returning home yesterday following their defeat at the T20 Women’s World Cup at the finals, where New Zealand won by 32 runs, the Minister had only accolades towards the team praising them for reaching the finals for the second time in a row.
The airport was abuzz with electrifying energy from fans that were waiting to welcome the heroines back home after a stellar performance at the World Cup.
“They have performed excellent, they have knocked out Australia. I think they have won it seven times before. This was a development team the other day; look at them today. They have opened the gates for women sports in particular,” said Minister Gayton McKenzie.
McKenzie did not only complement the Proteas for their great performance, he told the media that he will make sure that they are equally compensated as men in sports, not just in cricket but in all sporting codes. He said cricket is leading in closing the gap in pay between men and women but all codes must follow and there must be equal pay.
“We must leave this thing of financial challenges when it comes to women, when it comes to men, we pay and there is no financial challenges, when women must be paid we talk about financial challenges. We should work our things in this fashion that, men and women get paid the same.
I am going to fight for that, I’m not going to listen to stories that we are a bit financially cash strapped. There is never a right time to do the right thing and the right thing to do is now. I’m going to pressurise sporting codes,” said McKenzie.
Minister Gayton McKenzie further revealed that he has been meeting with Cricket South Africa and his department has been giving money to Cricket to develop the team, which the results there of were evidenced at the T20 World Cup. Following the professionalization of women cricket, McKenzie said his next fight is for equal pay.
“They both entertain, they both play, they both risk the same injuries, why is it that there are discrepancies, I’m not going to listen to nonsense that ‘no we can’t do this’, when are we gonna do this if we can’t do it now, then we must put a freeze on male salaries increases in order for women to get the same,” said McKenzie.
