Sisters step up for their slice of sporting pie

Posted on 28 Jan 2025

By Greg Thom, journalist, Institute of Community Directors Australia

Gender equity sport

The sporting prowess of the Australian women's cricket team will not be the only thing under the microscope at this week's historic day-night Ashes Test against England at the MCG. So will gender equality.

Cricket Australia has thrown its support behind UNICEF Australia’s ‘Until every girl can play’ campaign, which aims to raise awareness of the need to provide girls with equal opportunities to participate in sports.

To drive the point home, every wicket appeal during Thursday's match at the MCG – the first women’s test played between Australia and England in more than 75 years – will be symbolically highlighted as an appeal for gender equality.

Cricket fans attending the game will also be encouraged to support the campaign by donating.

Unicef gender equity campaign
UNICEF Australia has joined forces with Cricket Australia to highlight gender equity at this week's historic Ashes Test match between Australia and England at the MCG.

UNICEF Australia CEO Tony Stuart said sport is a powerful force for good, helping to break down barriers, promote participation, change attitudes, and strengthen inclusion.

“While our women’s cricket team have been making history on the pitch for a long time, there are still millions of young girls across the world who are denied the basic rights they are entitled to,” said Stuart.

“UNICEF Australia is extremely proud to be partnering with Cricket Australia to help us deliver our crucial work in gender equality – for millions of girls around the world who can't make it to the pitch.

“We know cricket fans are passionate and engaged – and protecting the rights of girls will resonate with them, so UNICEF can deliver vital programs that protect and empower girls.”

Cricket Australia’s head of social impact and sustainability, Megan Barnett-Smith, acknowledged that as a national sporting body, Cricket Australia has a significant role to play in raising awareness of gender equality on and off the sporting field.

“We encourage all fans attending the historic day-night Test to make a donation to support the work UNICEF Australia is doing to empower girls in cricket-loving communities around the world.”

That sentiment will resonate strongly with the members of another women’s cricket team who will be pulling on the pads on the same day across town.

The MCG game will coincide with an exhibition match at Melbourne’s Junction Oval featuring former Afghan women’s cricket team players living in exile Australia.

The T20 game against a Cricket Without Borders side will fulfil a long-held dream by the Afghan women cricketers, who fled together when the Taliban swept to power in 2021.

The tightly knit group of 22 have been based in Canberra and Melbourne since arriving in Australia, playing for local clubs and training together.

The exhibition game follows an appeal by the women cricketers to the International Cricket Council (ICC) asking for permission to form a refugee side and play under the banner of their home country, as the Afghan men's team did recently against Australia in the men’s T20 World Cup.

"A profound sadness remains that we, as women, cannot represent our country like the male cricketers," they wrote to then-ICC chief Greg Barclay, according to cricket.com.au.

"We are asking the ICC to assist us in setting up a refugee team in Australia. It could be administered by the East Asian Cricket office based at Cricket Australia. Through this team we aim to represent all Afghan women who dream of playing cricket but are unable to in Afghanistan."

Afghan womens cricketers
Afghan women's cricket team members Nahida Sapan and Firoza Amiri.

Cricket Australia CEO Nick Hockley said the match would highlight the skill and resilience of the Afghanistan players, and the efforts of those who have helped facilitate their inclusion in the community and the game in Australia.

"Many people across cricket and the community have come together to provide support for members of the Afghanistan women's team since their relocation to Australia and this match will be a celebration of that work," said Hockley.

“I'm delighted that their ambition to play together will be achieved in this exhibition match which will be a wonderful addition to the many events around the day-night women's Ashes Test."

Two of the Afghani cricketers, Nahida Sapan and Firoza Amiri, expressed their gratitude to all those involved in making the match a reality.

"We are extremely happy and feeling very proud. As we step out onto the field on 30th January, we are going to represent millions of Afghan women in Afghanistan and fight for their rights," said Amiri.

"Also, it's very special for all of us to get back together after three years after leaving everything, losing everything in Afghanistan and come back together again. It's going to be very exciting for all of us to play together."

Womens cricket gender equity
“Diversity within an organisation’s senior roles provides a more complete mix of skills, perspectives and experiences, resulting in better decision-making and improved performance.”
Federal Minister for Sport Anika Wells.

The federal government helped organise tomorrow’s exhibition match and has been actively involved in trying to level the playing field when it comes to gender inequality in sport.

The three year, $200 million Play Our Way program was established to provide greater opportunities for women and girls to access, participate and remain involved in sport and physical activity by funding grants for local initiatives to address participation barriers faced by women and girls.

In September, the Minister for Sport, Anika Wells, launched the National Gender Equity in Sports Governance Policy, aimed at addressing the underrepresentation of women in sports leadership.

The initiative meant that for the first time, sporting boardrooms across the nation must meet gender equity targets or risk having federal funding withheld.

The national policy is the first of its kind in Australia and is a collaboration between the Australian Government, the Australian Sports Commission (ASC) and state and territory agencies for sport and recreation.

The new guidelines for the sports sector mean that from July 1, 2027, half of all board directors, board chairs and board subcommittee members must be women.

While the policy does not apply to community clubs and associations or to professional clubs and leagues, the government encouraged them to voluntarily adopt the policy.

Minister for Sport Anika Wells said at the time of the policy announcement that Australia needs more women making decisions for more women.

While a highly successful Paris Olympics and solid on-field performances by teams such as the Diamonds (netball), the Matildas (soccer), the Stingers (water polo) and the Australian Women's Cricket Team have seen a surge in female participation in sport, Wells said Australia still lacks an appropriate balance of senior sports leadership.

“Our sporting systems are not equal, and this policy will help address the gender imbalances prevalent in sports leadership,” she said.

“Diversity within an organisation’s senior roles provides a more complete mix of skills, perspectives and experiences, resulting in better decision-making and improved performance.”

Ashes Womens Test
High profile events such as this week's day-night Ashes Test match between Australia and England are helping put women's sport in the spotlight.

According to the charity UN Women Australia, sports participation plays an important role in teaching girls the skills they need to advance in life, such as self-esteem, confidence, resilience, and the ability to work in teams.

While girls who play sport tend to stay in school longer, delay pregnancy, and get better jobs, by the age 14 they drop out of sports at twice the rate of boys.

This is a result of several factors, including social expectations and lack of investment in quality programs.

However, there are signs that years of hard work to level the sporting playing field when it comes to gender may be starting to bear fruit.

The achievements of a trio of trailblazing sporting women were recognised in this week's Australia Day Honours.

They included Dr Karen Read, a member of the Australian Women's Cricket Team between 1982 and 1986.

Read, a former president of the Western Australia Women's Cricket Association, WA team captain and Australian Sports Medal winner, was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for significant service to cricket and secondary education.

Player, coach and administrator Raelee Thompson was also awarded with an AM for services to cricket in all three of those roles.

Thompson, who captained the Australian Women's Team in 1984–85, played 16 Test matches and 23 One-day Internationals for Australia, was inducted into the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame in 2022.

Trailblazing sports broadcaster Kelli Underwood received a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for service to broadcast media.

Underwood, who was the first woman to commentate on the male-dominated sport of AFL football on radio in 2008, went on to break new ground the following year as the first female journalist to call games on television.

She has racked up a string of industry awards in the years since and is currently a member and selector on the AFLW All-Australian and NAB AFLW Rising Stars Committee.


Football Australia recently announced its latest round of community grants to 118 clubs and associations across the country for programs designed to boost female participation in soccer.

The initiative was launched following the success of the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 in which the heroic on-field efforts of the Matildas spurred a surge of interest in the sport among young girls.

Programs that will receive grant funding include those that:

  • support the education and development of female coaches
  • drive new participation opportunities by hosting ‘come and try’ days and summer football programs
  • offer holistic health workshops for women's and youth teams including strength and conditioning workshops
  • foster a better participant experience for women and girls by supporting female-fitting uniforms and replacing white playing shorts.

Football Australia’s general manager of women’s football, Carlee Millikin, said the submissions of all grant recipients contained initiatives that would help increase female participation in all areas of the sport.

“We are thrilled to see the clubs and associations that have been awarded the grants demonstrating a strong commitment to long-term investment in women’s and girls’ football within their communities that goes beyond the financial,” said Millikin.

“It means the Growing Football Fund can play its role to help supercharge their ambitions that result in positive outcomes for female participants.

"The wide breadth of projects is exciting, as it shows a deepening understanding of what is required to develop inclusive and safe environments."

More information

Matildas score win for girls’ participation in community sport

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