DC Comics book character Wonder Woman is all set to be named as the new honorary ambassador for the United Nations and will be used to promote messages about women's empowerment and gender-based violence, reported BBC on 13 October.
DC Entertainment president Diane Nelson will accept the role of her company's comic book, TV and film character at a ceremony on 21 October which will be attended by the actresses who have played Wonder Woman in TV series and movies. The ceremony also coincide with the 75th anniversary of the comic book character.
The event is likely to be graced by Lynda Carter, who played the character in a TV series from 1975-79 and Gal Gadot who acted in and as Wonder Woman in the latest installment, which will hit the screens in 2017.
The character was created by William Moulton Marston with co-creator Elizabeth Holloway Marston and artist H G Peter and first came to the public's attention in October 1941.
Wonder Woman's story was "meant to test her appeal at a time when female superheroes were rare," said DC Comics. The company gave her her own title and independence once the character was received well by the audience.
Warner Bros and DC Entertainment, who are supporting the UN and Unicef's year-long campaign for gender equality and women's empowerment, will be sponsoring the event, reported the news portal. However, UN has received severe criticism for lacking gender parity senior roles. According to an analysis, out of 10 senior leadership jobs, nine went to men in 2015. It is also astonishing to notice that there has never been a female Secretary General despite repeated campaigns.
According to the news portal, UK Women's Equality Party jibed at the fact that the intergovernmental organisation could not come up with a real-life woman who can take up the role and had to settle for a fictional character.
"I meet extraordinary women every day: women who have survived violence, or defied gender norms to ascend to the top of a hostile industry, or blazed a trail in the arts or media or sport or health...These women are truly superheroes. They don't wear hotpants, they don't have the power to wield Thor's hammer - they change lives, and they are the role models our young people need to see," said party leader Sophie Walker
However, it was reported that the comics site The Mary Sue welcomed the announcement saying, "Wonder Woman is a great, easily-recognisable symbol of what women can become once freed from a patriarchal society."
Wonder Woman is the warrior princess of the Amazons and is better known as Princess Diana of Themyscira. She possesses extraordinary skills in strategy, hunting and fighting and fights crime to save the world.
