Africa-Press – South-Africa. Sport, arts and culture minister Gayton McKenzie has pledged to fight for equal pay for men and women in all sporting codes to empower women in sports.
He was at OR Tambo International Airport to welcome the national women’s cricket team home on Tuesday after their loss in the final of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup to New Zealand in the UAE.
“They performed excellently. They have opened gates for women’s sports. I’m fighting now to ensure there’s equal pay for men and women in all sporting codes, not only cricket. We need women to be paid the same as men,” he said.
“We must leave the issue of financial challenges behind because in men’s sports we pay, we don’t talk about financial challenges. When it comes to women, we talk about financial challenges. We should work on our things in such a way that men and women get paid the same, and I’m going to fight for that. This is the time to do the right thing.
“They both entertain, they both play sports and they both risk the same injuries, so why is it that there are discrepancies? I will not listen to the nonsense. When will we do it if we don’t do it now? If not, we must freeze male salaries for women to get the same.”
South Africa lost by 32 runs to New Zealand. Despite the loss, McKenzie said he was proud of the team’s performance.
“I’m proud of this team; that’s why I came out here today [Tuesday]. We have one of the best teams in the world. It was just bad luck [that they lost], but they’ve done well and they have made us proud.”
He added his department has been working closely with Cricket South Africa and has donated funds to support the team’s development.
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