On Tuesday, the International Cricket Council (ICC) announced the launch of “100 percent Cricket Year of Women’s Cricket” campaign. This campaign was launched on the eve of International Women’s Day. The aim of this campaign will be to promote gender equality and empower women through cricket.
In a statement, the ICC said, “The 100 percent Cricket Year of Women’s Cricket campaign has been introduced to help drive transformative change and be part of accelerating the growth of the game.”
Geoff Allardice, CEO of the ICC, was proud of this initiative. He said, “Cricket has an incredible power and reach to raise awareness and effect change and we’re proud to partner with UNICEF as part of 100 percent Cricket Year of Women’s Cricket to #IDeclare our commitment to empowering women and girls through cricket. We are committed to gender equity and using the platform of our sport to promote equal opportunities for girls and boys is a great way of doing this. We will also focus all of our Cricket 4 Good efforts on this too, ensuring we’re giving as many women and girls the chance to grow through our game.”
On this #InternationalWomensDay, we are making a declaration along with @ICC and @UNICEF to continue promoting women’s cricket.#IDeclare pic.twitter.com/I5AK1ntvwE
— Female Cricket #CWC22 (@imfemalecricket) March 8, 2022
This newly launched campaign of the ICC garnered tremendous response from the players currently playing the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup in New Zealand, with India’s captain Mithali Raj being one of the first to show her support for the “100 percent Cricket Year of Women’s Cricket”.
Apart from the cricketers, the fans can also extend their support for this innovative campaign by using the #IDeclare. This simple hashtag will help the fans lend their support to the twin goals of gender equality and women empowerment through cricket. For instance, Pakistan captain Bismah Maroof and Bangladesh’s pace sensation Jahanara Alam also extended their support using the #IDeclare.
While Maroof said, “I declare I will encourage my daughter to play cricket”, Jahanara Alam said, “I declare I will work hard and play good cricket to set an example not only for Bangladeshi girls but also all over the world.”
There is no doubt that this exciting campaign by the ICC will do a world of good in meeting the objectives of gender equality and women empowerment through cricket and in the process promote women’s cricket all across the globe.
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I am a former cricketer having represented Mumbai University at All India University level. I was a part of MCA probables for the U-19 and U-23 age group. I have been an avid cricket writer for the last five years. Currently I am pursuing my Ph.D from IIT Bombay.