City Press reports that Banyana Banyana and other women’s national teams’ long battle for equal pay, is headed for victory. According to Sumayya Khan, deputy director-general in the department of sport, arts and culture, a draft policy that will ensure that every woman representing SA in sport will receive equal pay, benefits and sponsorship, is expected to be passed into law later this year. Cabinet approved the gazetting of the draft policy on women in sport in March this year. On Friday, Khan advised that the draft had already been published for public comment and the process was nearing completion.

The next step will be to make the necessary changes based on the public’s input. Once tabled in Parliament, the policy will go through several processes until it’s approved and becomes law. The policy outlines a set of measures to promote and support women in sport and ensure that programmes are in place to address gender disparities. It also addresses the barriers to entry for women – such as lack of funding, sponsorship and inadequate remuneration. The equal pay debate resurfaced last week following the standoff between Banyana and Safa over the players’ match appearance fees at the upcoming Women’s World Cup in New Zealand and Australia later this month.

by Tiisetso Malepa