Australian female cricketers had to sign a 'no pregnancy' clause in their contracts.

If you’re an Australian woman thinking of a career as a professional cricketer, you might want to have a chat to your doctor about your methods of contraception.

Female cricketers are being asked to sign a ‘no pregnancy’ clause that guarantees they are not pregnant when commencing their 12-month contracts with the National Cricket League.

By comparison, male cricketers are given leave to fly home when their wives or partners give birth, while women working for Cricket Australia off the field benefit from between four to 12 weeks paid maternity leave.

It’s one of many startling disparities in conditions between men and women in the league – including a  $230,000 gap in their minimum pay – revealed by The Australian today.

The differences are outlined in a pay submission from Australian Cricket Association, leaked to the newspaper, that was contributed as part of their ongoing collective bargaining negotiations with Cricket Australia.

“(Women) have to ‘warrant’ that they are not, to the best of their knowledge, pregnant when they sign their contract to play for Australia, which in itself is contrary to acceptable employer behaviour in any other workplace,” the document seen by The Australian reads.

“(Women) are expressly excluded from Cricket Australia’s parental leave policy while other female members who work at CA’s head office may have the benefit of between four 0r 12 weeks of paid parental leave.”

Aside from the pregnancy promise, women must also agree to single year contracts – whereas the men enjoy multi-year deals – and a number of other bizarre behavioural standards.

“Our female members find it outdated at best and rather condescending that they can only sign one year contracts, making life planning very difficult, while men can sign multi-year contracts,” the document claims.

“(Women) have to agree to behave in a ‘courteous’ and ‘sporting manner’ to play for their state while male members do not.

They also forfeit “the same rights to injury payments, visitor periods, high performance standards and income protection as enjoyed by the men.”

AFL footballer Kate Sheahan shares what happens when an athlete gets pregnant post continues after snippet):

It comes at a time when women’s cricket has been going from strength to strength, with the Women’s Big Bash League smashing television ratings over the weekend.

About 386,000 viewers tuned in to watch Melbourne Stars beat Sydney Thunder on Saturday night, with about 637,000 Australians watching at one point during the match, the Herald Sun reports.

Cricket Australia has not commented publicly on today's story, but admitted to The Australian the present contracts for female cricketers 'fell short.

They also said they are working with Australian Cricket Association to fix the anomalies around pregnancy and paid parental leave.

Last year, the organisation granted the female players a significant pay rise.

A spokesperson from the Australian Cricket Association confirmed to Mamamia that the conditions are part of the current agreements for female cricketers, which expire in June 2017, and said the peak body is negotiating in "good faith" with Cricket Australia to correct them.

Mamamia contacted Cricket Australia for comment but did not hear back prior to publishing this article.