The Hundred aiming to "equalise" pay across genders as soon as possible

The female players in the competition's top price bracket will take home £31,250 in 2022, only marginally more than the lowest band in the men's competition

It's not a question of if The Hundred achieves equal pay across genders but when it happens, the head of the women's competition insists.

Beth Barrett-Wild was speaking to The Cricketer as part of a wider piece about the English game's gender pay gap, where she also admitted that she doesn't think "anybody is comfortable with the gap that did exist and continues to exist".

The female players in the competition's top price bracket will take home £31,250 for being a part of The Hundred this year – an increase on the highest category in the tournament's inaugural edition and more than the total prize pot allocated to the winning squad in the Kia Super League in 2017.

Yet it remains only marginally more than the lowest band in the men's competition.

"The women on average are earning 25 per cent of what men are," said Barrett-Wild. "It's another step in the right direction but it is definitely not the end point. I have ambitions to try and equalise that as quickly as we can over the next few years.

"We have already seen the power of The Hundred for attendances and viewing figures, the whole women's space is growing. It's no longer about if we get to equal pay but when and how quickly can we get there in the foreseeable future."

^{The Hundred had a major positive impact on the women's game in its first year (Stu Forster/Getty Images)}

She added: "I read a lot of articles about equal pay and it's something I think about a lot. One of the ones that struck me from years ago now, was almost saying the equal pay debate is often spoken about in the wrong space: equal pay is an outcome of equal investment into promotion and marketing.

"So, that's what we're trying to do. If we can position, promote and present women's cricket to the same scale of exposure as the men's game then we are just accelerating all of those things.

"There is equal investment in marketing, broadcast partners and what they do to promote The Hundred; there's equal investment in our digital initiatives and how we use and promote players; there is that equal profile and prominence.

"Those are the things that will accelerate that audience growth for women's cricket. We just have to keep building that audience year on year, that is why it is so important to get as many people turning up, watching as many matches as possible. Which is why marketing investment is so important."

Related Topics

• Closing the pay gap: The Hundred is making a start but there is a long way to go