Cricket Australia has defended its controversial stance on pregnant women’s players.
In a move some claim may be illegal, CA admits it asks its female players to sign a contract saying they are not pregnant, with the sporting body saying it is a duty of care issue.
“The safety of any player, whether they be Cricket Australia, Women’s Big Bash League or state and territory contracted, is always our number one priority,” CA said in a statement amid pay negotiations with men’s and women’s players.
“We are committed to providing a safe environment for all cricket players (including pregnant players) and all other cricket participants.
“We are well aware of and abide by Federal, State and Territory legislation which makes it unlawful to discriminate against a player on the basis of pregnancy or potential pregnancy.
“Any player who becomes pregnant is encouraged to make her own decision on whether or not to continue playing cricket in consultation with her medical advisers.”
CA released the statement to “clarify” its position after The Australian newspaper published a story on Thursday revealing the contentious contractual clauses.
Advocacy group Women Sport Australia said CA’s position potentially revealed a reluctance to pay out maternity leave.
“As they are only offering women one-year contracts, not multi-year contracts as the men get, it looks like they are trying to avoid having to honour maternity leave provisions for female players,” the group’s president Carol Fox said.
Pat Howard, CA’s executive general manager of team performance, said: “In everything we do, we place the health and safety of our players as the highest priority”.
“Our only interest in whether one of our women players is pregnant is to ensure the health of her and her baby, and we have strict rules around medical confidentiality,” Howard said.
“We are very mindful that cricket involves physical risk, and we need to ensure that our medical staff and players are aware of every aspect that can affect a player’s health.
“All our policies have been developed in conjunction with the Australian Cricketers’ Association, and together we will continue to refine and improve all policies and contractual clauses that relate to player health and safety.”
Build your own fantasy cricket team and put it to the test with Draftstars daily fantasy competitions. Pick your match, pick your team and watch the points roll in to take out cash prizes on each match. What are you really gambling with? Set a deposit limit.
Harshal Patel was not a happy man!
David Lord has been remembered as an icon of Australian sports journalism following his death, aged 84. The renowned writer and broadcaster was an…
Sign the man up for a contract next season!
RCB have suffered a massive HEAD-ACHE after Travis Head smashed the fastest century by an SRH player in just 39 balls, as they amassed…
A brutal century by Travis Head has blasted Sunrisers Hyderabad back into the Indian Premier League play-off places in another match for bowlers to…
Two Aussies abroad have endured wildly different fortunes as Jake Fraser-McGurk joined the world stage with a thrilling first IPL half century, but Scott…
