The whitewash of the Shakib-led Tigers at the hand of the Afghans in the T20I series held in Dehradun, India has deeply disappointed the cricket-lovers of the nation. It is understandable.
While the Tigers were being mauled in Dehradun, the country's women cricket team, led by Salma, were on a winning streak at the Women's Twenty20 Asia Cup 2018 tournament being held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. They won against Pakistan on June 04, against India (World no. 2) on June 06 and finally, against Thailand on June 07.
Against Thailand, Bangladesh's eves won with nine wickets in hand. The victory of the Tigresses against India, who are currently the Asian champions, they won the match with seven wickets in hand.
But, there has not been much discussion about these victories in the media, on social media or in the public domain as is usually the case with any wins or defeats of the Tigers.
This indifference speaks volumes about gender bias in society. Male chauvinism, though, is not unique to Bangladesh or any particular country. In the global sports arena, Tennis superstar Martina Navratilova, for example, expressed her frustration in March after learning that she was being paid by BBC a tenth of the salary that John McEnroe received despite both being commentators for Wimbledon Tennis Tournament. Similarly, actresses in Hollywood and Bollywood have been asking for equal pay with male actors since 2015.
At personal level, the present scribe was one of three managers working at a private company in Dhaka eight years back. One of the other two managers was a female colleague who worked as much as the rest of us. While conversing idly with her one day, he learnt that she was being paid nearly 54 per cent less than the salaries received by her male colleagues.