Feminists, unite.

The United Nations has decided that Wonder Woman will become their Honorary Ambassador for the Empowerment of Women and Girls. That’s good news, right? Females of any age should have someone to look towards as a symbol of empowerment. However- unfortunately- Wonder Woman isn’t real. In fact, she isn’t even a person.

Why has the UN chosen a comic book heroine over any woman of flesh and blood? The Amazonian princess 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,” said Maher Nasser, outreach director of the UN’s Department of Public Information, in an interview with news site NPR.

This isn’t the first time the United Nations has utilized a cartoon character as an international symbol. Early in 2016, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon made a character from the Angry Birds mobile game an honorary ambassador for the International Day of Happiness. The bird has appeared on his own website, urging people to tweet or send a video to raise their voice for a cause.

However, out of the hundreds, and possibly thousands of real-life examples, the UN has chosen a fictional character. They’re coming under some well-deserved fire for such bad timing; a recent election for a secretary general position in the organization had not one, not two, but seven women in the running. Out of all the options, António Guterres of Portugal took the lead. Several previous staff members, both male and female, have spoken out in protest against the seemingly hypocritical situation at hand. Many have chosen to remain anonymous to alleviate the risk of losing their jobs.

What kind of nations united are we supporting here? I’m not opposed to Wonder Woman being a feminist icon; she is a strong, compassionate princess with an intimidating lasso of truth. I just wonder why the UN couldn’t have chosen an actual woman as a leader. After all, there are 3.52 billion to choose from.