Zimbabwean born Hollywood superstar and internationally acclaimed actor, Danai Gurira has been appointed the UN Women Goodwill Ambassador, the organisation announced yesterday.
According to the UN Women, Gurira will lend her name and dedicate support to putting spotlight on gender equality and women’s rights, as well as bringing unheard women’s voices front and centre.
“UN Women is delighted to welcome Danai Gurira in her new role as Goodwill Ambassador to support our work on gender equality. As a playwright, actor and activist in pursuit of women’s empowerment and gender equality with her sharp human rights lens, she is uniquely qualified to communicate and inspire.
“She recognizes the challenges of intersectionality and will connect with the diversity of women living on the margins of society,” said Under-Secretary-General and UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka. “Her engagement with us will bring generations of girls greater belief in a positive future.
“As an influential role model in both her personal and professional life and a voice for those who have not yet been heard, we look forward to her ability to drive action on gender equality in communities across the world,” she reiterated.
Accepting the benevolence, Gurira took to Twitter to show her elation.
“I’m excited to announce today that I’m joining forces with UN Women as Goodwill Ambassador to help continue in the fight for gender equality and women’s rights!”
Gurira is the first Black American-Zimbabwean Goodwill Ambassador for UN Women.
She is most commonly referred to as “General Okoye” by her fans, due to her recent on-screen persona in Marvel’s blockbuster phenomenon Black Panther and in the film Avengers: Infinity War.
Throughout her career, Danai Gurira has played characters who are diverse, often flawed, complex, and multi-dimensional.
She is also a critically acclaimed award-winning writer who works relentlessly to bring the voices of unheard women, often survivors of violence, to the front and centre; and scripts narratives as her act of resistance and solidarity with women’s realities around the world.
Through her art, she has become a well-known advocate for women and their diverse perspectives that are often missing in popular media.
