The second edition of WPL, or Women’s Premier League, starts tonight. It took BCCI a bit longer than expected (perhaps the pandemic delayed their plans) to launch the ‘IPL of women’s cricket’, but they finally did so last year. BCCI is by far the richest cricketing body globally, and is in pole position to drive growth of women’s cricket, in India and worldwide.
Of course, WPL is a welcome step, and one hopes the second edition continues to expand interest in the sport, especially among young women audiences. After all, the idea of gender inclusivity has been an elusive one in Indian sport, over many years now. It’s ironical, because some of India’s best individual achievement in sports over the last four decades have come from sportswomen, starting with PT Usha in the 1980s, followed by the likes of Mary Kom, Sania Mirza, Saina Nehwal, PV Sindhu, the Phogat sisters, Sakshi Malik, etc. In the Tokyo Olympics (2021), three of India’s seven medals came from sportswomen: Mirabai Chanu (Weightlifting), Lovlina Borgohain (Boxing) and PV Sindhu (Badminton).
Yet, in a cricket-dominated sport, female sportspersons have operated on the fringes. It doesn’t help that football and kabaddi, the next two most popular sports in India, are male-dominated too. In our monthly popularity track Ormax Sports Stars, we ask audiences to name their favourite sportsperson, irrespective of their sport or nationality. On an average, only 4% audiences name a sportswoman as their favourite. Even among female audiences, this percentage is in single digits every month, without exception. While it’s understood that sport is male-dominated worldwide, 96:4 is an embarrassing ratio.
Even as more and more Indian sportswomen are managing to break new barriers globally, they are fighting decades of gender bias, stereotyping, and conditioning embedded in our socio-cultural fabric.
Sports is an expensive category, and sustainable sport at the top level has to be advertiser-funded. Sportswomen continue to struggle to get endorsement deals, even from brands that otherwise champion projects focusing on gender equality and women empowerment. Till the audiences (including women) begin to watch more women’s sport, it’s going to be an uphill task. The medals may come, but the deals won’t.
Hence, WPL has a lot riding on it. It can become that one property that creates demand for women’s sports in India. It may take some time, perhaps 3-5 years. But the opportunity does exist.
With great power comes great responsibility, Spider-Man famously said. That saying perfectly captures BCCI’s role regarding the growth of women’s sports in India.