It’s time to close the pay gap between men and women, basketball superstar Stephen Curry said Sunday.
In a blog post for The Players Tribune, the Golden State Warriors’ All-Star and two-time NBA MVP said he’s been thinking more about gender equality as his two daughter grow up.
Citing the strength and success of his mother, Sonya, and wife, Ayesha, Curry said “that these ideas have been on my mind for a while,” but “the idea of women’s equality has become a little more personal for me, lately, and a little more real.”
“Every day — that’s when we need to be working to close the pay gap in this country. Because every day is when the pay gap is affecting women. And every day is when the pay gap is sending the wrong message to women about who they are, and how they’re valued, and what they can or cannot become.” Stephen Curry“I want our girls to grow up knowing that there are no boundaries that can be placed on their futures, period,” Curry 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.”
Read: 5 things we need to teach to young girls
As of 2014, women working full time in the U.S. made 83 cents for every dollar a man made, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. And while wage parity is improving, slowly, the World Economic Forum said in 2016 that based on current trends, the global gender gap won’t be closed for another 100 years.
See: The final key to gender equality is mastery of money
Also: Women and black college graduates are paid less right out of the gate
Curry said women shouldn’t be alone in fighting for equal pay. “Here’s the truth: You’re not world class if you’re not actively about inclusion,” he said.
Curry said it’s a lesson he intends to teach his infant son as well. “I think you let him know that, for his generation, to be a true supporter of women’s equality — it’s not enough anymore to be learning about it.
“You have to be doing it.”
