Pregnancy policy under review – Sutherland

James Sutherland, the Cricket Australia chief executive, has stated that pregnancy policies around the nation’s women cricketers will be addressed in the current round of MOU negotiations with the Australian Cricketers Association, though he asserted his comfort with a system that presently requires players to declare their maternal status when signing a contract.

Australia’s Sex Discrimination Act states that it is unlawful to ask a potential employee if they are pregnant, yet women signing to play in CA competitions are asked to state whether or not they are, in one of the clauses of their standard contracts. Both Sutherland and the team performance manager Pat Howard stated this was purely a health and safety measure.

However Sutherland, when pressed on the issue during an interview on ABC Radio, said that CA would work with the ACA to ensure the terms and conditions for female cricketers would be reviewed during the present round of talks to ensure the next agreement was in line with “best practice” for female athletes. It has been suggested – in keeping with the health and safety element – that women be permitted to declare whether they are pregnant or not to the relevant CA or state medical officer without the need for a clause in the contract itself, thus maintaining doctor-patient confidentiality.

“The critical thing here is that it’s a health and safety issue,” Sutherland said. “So it’s understood that a woman can declare herself pregnant, but the extension of that is we know they have taken medical advice, so if …

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