Celebrating one of Southasia’s finest this Women’s History Month.
Tennis champion Sania Mirza is renowned across Southasia not only for her skill on the court but also as a woman who beat all the odds to emerge as a success on and off the court.
Mirza has been a vocal advocate of women’s rights, speaking against domestic violence, sexual assault, unnatural body standards and other issues. She’s also been an incessant critic of the unfair standards in Indian sport, where good facilities and fair pay are still hard to come by for women.
When Rajdeep Sardesai, one of India’s most respected journalists, asked her about “settling down” during an interview in 2016, she chided him for “sounding disappointed I’m not choosing motherhood over being number one in the world”.
“That’s the question I face all the time as a woman, that all women have to face – the first is marriage and then it’s motherhood. Unfortunately, that’s when we’re settled, and no matter how many Wimbledons we win,” she said.
Read more at: ‘Sania Mirza: India tennis icon who showed hate could be defeated‘ – by Zoya Mateen and Meryl Sebastian in BBC News, 22 February 2023
Lead photo courtesy: BBC News
Southasia Peace Action Network 