Golden State Warriors figurehead Stephen Curry is serious about his game (if you haven’t already noticed by his three championship rings and his two time MVP status). However, his display of balanced principles, tenacity and sharp focus extends beyond the court and into his family.
While Steph seems to have always been a stand up guy, watching his two daughters, Riley and Ryan, grow up, has made him pay more attention to the role people like him play in the fight for women’s equality. Seeing the inequalities women in the world face—including his mother and his wife, Ayesha—hits a soft spot for him, especially as it pertains to the glaring pay gap.
In a personal essay for The Players Tribune, Curry talked through the feelings he has towards gender inquality as it relates to the women in his family and beyond.
“I want our girls to grow up knowing that there are no boundaries that can be placed on their futures, period,” he wrote. “I want them to grow up in a world where their gender does not feel like a rulebook for what they should think, or be, or do. And I want them to grow up believing that they can dream big, and strive for careers where they’ll be treated fairly. And of course: paid equally.”
He even came for the lazy “father of daughters” trope that represents a man’s sudden awakening that he should respect women because he helped create a little girl, putting the onus on men to always play their part.
“For my whole life, really, I feel like I’ve been receiving this education on what it means to be a woman in America,” he continued. “One lesson from that education that’s really stood out to me is: to always stay listening to women, to always stay believing in women, and — when it comes to anyone’s expectations for women — to always stay challenging the idea of what’s right.”
As his own remedy of sorts, because he believes that conversations around the issue should happen outside of Women’s Equality Day, Curry hosted an all-girls overnight basketball camp from Aug. 17-20. There, not only did the girls have access to all of Curry’s pointers and guidance, but they were able to feel like equals on the court.
“I think it was also the sort of thing that can help to shift people’s perspectives,” he wrote. “So that when someone sees an NBA player is hosting a camp, now, you know — maybe they won’t automatically assume it’s for boys. And so eventually we can get to a place where the women’s game, it isn’t “women’s basketball.” It’s just basketball. Played by women, and celebrated by everyone.”
Keep up the good work, Steph.
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