International Women's Day: Cricket commits to driving change

As part of the 100 per cent Cricket Year of Womens Cricket campaign on International Womens Day the ICC has called on the cricket world to come together to IDeclare what action they will take to drive transformative change and be part of accelerating the growth of the gameAs its IDeclare pledge the ICC has committed to focusing all its social impact programmes on empowering women and girls through cricket and today announced a partnership with UNICEF to promote equal opportunities for girls and boys in South AsiaThe partnership urges individual action by the cricket family and the sports 1 billion fans to support gender equality using the hashtag IDeclare Womens cricket is one of the ICCs six strategic priorities for growth as the sport looks to grow female participation at every levelICC CEO Geoff Allardice said Cricket has an incredible power and reach to raise awareness and effect change and were proud to partner with UNICEF as part of 100 per cent Cricket Year of Womens Cricket to IDeclare our commitment to empowering women and girls through cricketWe 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 were giving as many women and girls the chance to grow through our game he addedUNICEFs South Asia Regional Director George LaryeaAdjei said Equal opportunities for both girls and boys allow all children to reach their full potential Despite progress millions of girls continue to face discrimination at home school and workplace The pandemic has reversed the gains made in gender equality in many ways We must bear in mind that when girls do better societies do better Each one of us must continue to speak up for equal opportunities for girls and women in all fields By championing girls in sports the ICC and UNICEF partnership will reach millions with powerful messages across the tournamentsThe cricketing world has got behind the ICC and UNICEF IDeclare campaign with players commentators and commercial partners all making their own commitment to accelerating the growth of the womens gameIndia captain Mithali Raj kicked off IDeclare with a commitment to supporting a future generation of girls in blue I declare that I will scout and train as many young girls as possible to take up this wonderful sportWhilst Pakistan Captain Bismah Maroof one of eight mothers competing at the ICC Womens Cricket World Cup said I declare I will encourage my daughter to play cricketBangladesh bowler Jahanara Alam joined the IDeclare movement I declare I will work hard and play good cricket to set an example not only for Bangladeshi girls but also all over the worldMeanwhile ICC Partner FTX has backed IDeclare by partnering with Women in Sport Aotearoa WISPA Official Charity Partner of the ICC Womens Cricket World Cup 2022 to deliver a leadership programme for 1619yearold womenThe programme is designed to identify young women who are demonstrating leadership potential in sport and active recreation but who may need a boost to help them realise their potential They are being specially selected not because they are already in leadership roles such as school captains or team leaders but because they have the potential to be with assistanceThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever