Women Umpires finally break into the women's world cup

Claire Polosak from Australia & Kathy Cross from New Zealand became the world's first women to officiate for a women's cricket tournament with the World Cup T20 matches to be held in 10 cities across India beginning March 15 2016, simultaneously with the men's T20World Cup, reports cricbuzz. The event is generally held every two years, although there is a four-year gap between the next two scheduled tournaments (2016 in India and 2020 in Australia).

With this move, the world will see, for the first time, a woman umpire on the field. Before this, the two women plus England's Sue Redfern and West Indies' Jacqueline Williams were picked for officiating the tournament qualifiers held earlier.

Gender-Parity in sports would be the truest reflection of societal equality, as it predominantly viewed as male territory

Claire Polsaik (bing)

People say it is a great moment in the history of equality in sports, and I wonder why. Though I agree that it does have a historic feel to it when I read that women are finally going to get to be a part of the 31-member umpire panel that umpires the tournament for both- the men's as well as women's world cup. But we cannot deny that it is rather shocking that these women are still not going to umpire any of the men's matches. There is a very long way to go.

Women Umpires T20: Kathey Cross

Kathey Cross (bing)

What does that tell us about culture of the society that we live in? When it comes to world level play, the rules of the game are overseen by men, doesn't matter if the players are women. And in the name of changing times and the world's cry for gender equality, we give a couple of them some visibility. And the world rejoices!

Gender-Parity in sports would be the truest reflection of societal equality, as it predominantly viewed as male territory

The objective is not to undermine the great achievements of these women. We are sure they must have had to work and network a little harder than their male counterparts in order to get where they finally got! The objective is to raise a question- how long before women lay and oversee the rules of the games they play?