DO YOU know the name of the captain of the Australian cricket team? No, I don't either, and I'm not talking about Michael Clarke. I mean the national women's squad. And, before you jump on Google to find out, ask yourself: why does Australia even have a women's cricket team?

This is no slander on ability - quite the opposite. Perhaps the better question to ask is: why do we have a men's cricket team? With the Sydney Test about to get under way, why on earth can't the Australian team be truly representative and draw on the country's most skilful players, regardless of their sex?

Ellyse Perry in the semi-final of the ICC Women's World Twenty20 between India and Australia in 2010. Credit:Getty Images

Sport is one of the last arenas in our society where a gender apartheid persists with no good reason. The bar on women's participation in politics or business disappeared a long ago. A female prime minister has made it to The Lodge and women serve as chief executives; and, while plenty of battles still need to be had to see equality, it is typically accepted that women are just as capable as men in these fields of endeavour. Even the military is finally waking up to the recruitment potential of women as frontline soldiers.

But in physical sporting contests, there is the quaint notion that boys and girls should be segregated. Look around the community and you can see the effects of this discrimination: a meagre investment made in sports facilities for women when compared with the abundance of public space devoted to men.