The United Nations is honoring Wonder Woman on October 21, to celebrate the 75th anniversary of her debut in DC Comics. Now the esteemed international peace organization is bestowing an additional honor on the character, making her an honorary ambassador for gender equality!
Outreach director of the United Nations’ Department of Public Information, Maher Nasser, remarked in a statement:
“Wonder Woman’s character is the most iconic and well known female comic book superhero in the world, known for her strength, fairness and compassion, and her commitment to justice, peace and equality.”
A UN fact sheet reads:
“Women and girls represent half of the world’s population and therefore also half of its potential. But, today gender inequality persists everywhere and stagnates social progress.”
Gender equality for girls and women is part of the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals. The body offered the following facts and figures:
- About two thirds of countries in the developing regions have achieved gender parity in primary education
- In Southern Asia, only 74 girls were enrolled in primary school for every 100 boys in 1990. By 2012, the enrollment ratios were the same for girls as for boys.
- In sub-Saharan Africa, Oceania and Western Asia, girls still face barriers to entering both primary and secondary school.
- Women in Northern Africa hold less than one in five paid jobs in the non-agricultural sector. The proportion of women in paid employment outside the agriculture sector has increased from 35 per cent in 1990 to 41 per cent in 2015
- In 46 countries, women now hold more than 30 per cent of seats in national parliament in at least one chamber.
They also provided these goals, although it’s not quite clear how Wonder Woman will assist in reaching them:
- End all forms of discrimination against all women and girls everywhere
- Eliminate all forms of violence against all women and girls in the public and private spheres, including trafficking and sexual and other types of exploitation
- Eliminate all harmful practices, such as child, early and forced marriage and female genital mutilation
- Recognize and value unpaid care and domestic work through the provision of public services, infrastructure and social protection policies and the promotion of shared responsibility within the household and the family as nationally appropriate
- Ensure women’s full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership at all levels of decision making in political, economic and public life
- Ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights as agreed in accordance with the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development and the Beijing Platform for Action and the outcome documents of their review conferences
- Undertake reforms to give women equal rights to economic resources, as well as access to ownership and control over land and other forms of property, financial services, inheritance and natural resources, in accordance with national laws
- Enhance the use of enabling technology, in particular information and communications technology, to promote the empowerment of women
- Adopt and strengthen sound policies and enforceable legislation for the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls at all levels
According to Nasser, both Lynda Carter, who played Wonder Woman on TV in the 70s and Gal Gadot who played her in ‘Batman V Superman’ this year and in her own solo movie next year, will attend the ceremony on the 21st.
Can Wonder Woman truly make a difference in the real world?
Source: NPR via United Nations
