The whole country came together yesterday to celebrate Pakistan’s win against New Zealand in the T20 World Cup, but we seem to have forgotten about our women, who are headed for their second successive win in the ICC Women’s Championship. “We are here to play a good game of cricket and want fans to come to the stadium and support the team,” said captain Bismah Maroof whose team beat the Irish at Gaddafi Stadium just yesterday. She became the first Pakistani batter to score 3,000 ODI runs but her historical contribution to the sport was overshadowed by the Pak vs England semifinal. Prospects for women’s sports are dismal in Pakistan. Female players are routinely ridiculed for defying gender norms, and many have even reported sexual harassment from their sponsors. In 2013, four women associated with the Multan Cricket Board revealed that the club’s chairman demanded sexual favours in exchange for putting girls on regional and national teams. An investigation that preceded the allegations concluded that the women involved had lied about the charges and banned them from the sport altogether; once again, empowering male voices at the expense of women. Since its inception, cricket has become synonymous with masculine power and is seen largely as a male sport. It is not surprising then that accomplished female players receive little attention in the extensive media coverage of the sport. Even the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has refused to invest in its women cricketers, allocating a meagre five per cent of its budget to women’s cricket compared to a substantially higher 19.3 per cent to its men. The board has not yet proposed a concrete timeline for the women’s league it promised three years ago. Women athletes aren’t valued across the border either, where the women’s cricket team is barely granted any television time despite being the only team in Asia to reach the Women’s World Cup final. The BCCI has come under fire for its double standards on several occasions; just last year, the board was accused of withholding $500,000 from its female cricketers after they finished as runners-up at the World Cup. Without adequate access to training facilities and equipment, women’s cricket will never gain the momentum it keenly longs for. Something has got to change and it starts with the average person stepping up and demanding more screentime for our zealous female athletes who demand our support now more than ever. *