Sania is appointed as the UN goodwill ambassador for the South Asia region Tuesday. With this, she joins a campaign to raise awareness on gender equality and end violence against women and girls as well.

It is the first time in UN Women’s history that a South Asian woman is appointed as the goodwill ambassador. Sania says women face discrimination everywhere in the country and are treated like animals. She exclaimed that the attitudes of men towards women should be changed. She expressed that if she had been a man, she could have avoided some controversies about her career in sports. If the culture changes, more women will make sports as their career.

She is happy that the government is open up to speak about gender inequality which is present in society. The interference of government certainly helps in changing a lot of things. Cultural change is needed to stop gender inequality and Sania believes media will play a crucial role in preventing it.

She also hoped everyone will be treated equally in future and women will not be treated as objects. She said she will try her best to bring about a change as the goodwill ambassador.

Image Credit: Robbie Mendelson / CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Source: originally posted to Flickr as Sania Mirza

Image Reference: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sania_Mirza_in_Citi_Open_2011.jpg