A move to increase the Stawell Women’s Gift prize pool – not just a little but tenfold to $60,000 – will equal the  prize pool on offer for its iconic Easter footrace.

This is fantastic promotion and reward in women’s sport.

But it should not have been a major talking point.

Why has it taken this long for parity in the men’s and women’s title events in the Stawell Gift carnival’s 134-year history?

Yes, women can enter the Stawell Gift field.

Australia’s fastest female Mel Breen has done so twice, including last year in the wake of clocking a national women’s 100-metre record.

Breen wanted to test her race against the men.

But why should female athletes be forced to take on the men to bid for Stawell’s $40,000 winner’s cheque in

some twisted definition of equality?

Breen was a leading campaigner, along with Ballarat’s reigning Stawell Gift women’s champion Holly Dobbyn, to equal the prize pools.

When Breen won the women’s sash as a backmarker in 2012, she pocketed $2500.

In the same carnival, Ballarat’s Matt Wiltshire pocketed $40,000. Little had changed for Dobbyn’s win at Central Park last season.

Critics are already piping up in water-cooler debates that this is a backward move that would detract from the

prestige of the men’s title race. 

The men will not battle for any less. They will not split an existing prize pool in half.

Male and female athletes run the same distance, train the same hours and are equally passionate about the

sport.

This is about more than money. This is about recognising the headline women’s battle as more than a minority race.

Professional tennis endures a similar ongoing debate.

All four grand slam events – Wimbledon and the US, Australian and French opens – boast equal winners’ cheques for the men’s and women’s crowns.

The obvious argument here is that men play the best of fi ve sets in grand slams singles and women only play the best of three.

It is an archaic set-up, a little like the old argument that women were too fragile to run marathons.

There is continuous banter between players and sports fans on quantity versus quality.

Serena Williams, the most successful modern women’s tennis player, is always confi dent she could rattle the

men’s tour. American tennis legend Billie Jean King founded the Women’s Tennis Association in 1973 and famously won a historic battle-of-the-sexes match against male professional Bobby Riggs the same year.

King is still calling out for equity in professional tennis.

“You know, sports are a microcosm of society, so it teaches you how the world still perceives gender inequality. It’s not fun,” she said in October when the debate fl ared again.

Stawell is considered the grand final for Australian professional running.

The prestige and honour of competing at Stawell is a massive lure for interstate athletes.

Leading track sprinters are enticed to the grass.

Stawell’s women’s gift fi eld is still always outnumbered by the equivalent men’s contenders.

Some critics about the Victorian Athletic League circuit argue this is why more money should be on offer for

men – they effectively have to fend off more rivals.

However, putting up $60,000 for the women’s gift will guarantee a larger, stronger, higher-quality fi eld.

There are some fi ner points that will be interesting for handicappers to settle, such as whether the limit will

be tightened to reinforce a stronger field and ensure backmarkers will be up against faster, sharper rivals.

In turn, younger emerging sprinters will benefi t most.

Ballarat stablemate Grace O’Dwyer and Jenna Cartledge, the reigning Maryborough women’s gift champion, will have a better opportunity to compete against Australia’s best sprinters.

The duo raced leading New South Wales quick Christine Wearne through the Ballarat heats and semis and reached the podium with Wearne in the fi nal.

Cartledge said the adrenalin from racing Wearne in the Ballarat fi nal was amazing.

She could hardly imagine what that might feel like in the amplifi ed atmosphere of Stawell.

Ballarat is expected to follow suit and equalise its title race prizes next season.

Until now, Queanbeyan, near Canberra, and Stonnington in Melbourne were the only professional running meets where men and women’s title events were on parity.

Stonnington, which offered $15,000 pools on Friday night, was Australia’s richest omen’s footrace.

Ballarat’s Tara Domaschenz has won the Stonnington women’s sash twice and maintained the vibe for the

women’s fi nal was the best in the VAL – the reward was signifi cant and, importantly, equal.

“When I first started running, I did it because I love the sport and that is why I still run,” Domaschenz said.

“It’s not about the money. It’s good to see social equity in running.”

Hopefully, this will translate into more attention – in broadcasts and in the stands – and, ultimately, encourage more women to take up and keep running.