In October this year, Wonder Woman was named a United Nations honorary ambassador for the empowerment of women and girls. Earlier this week, due to a petition of 45,000 signatures, her role was cut short. The petition stated that Wonder Woman’s current image, referring in particular to her outfit and appearance, was inappropriate, and the empowerment role should be held by a real woman.

Absolutely, real life women should hold official representation roles, especially for such a loaded global goal, but an “honorary” ambassador, unlike a goodwill ambassador, is traditionally created for fictional characters. Winnie the Pooh was an honorary ambassador for friendship in 1998. Tinkerbell was named honorary ambassador of green (environmental awareness) in 2009. Fictional characters have the ability to cross borders and boundaries that real people can’t. Their accessibility and interest to children help spread important goals to younger generations.

Wonder Woman was created with female empowerment in mind during the second world war by William Moulton Marston, an American psychologist, lie detector inventor, and women’s rights advocate. Wonder Woman’s American flag outfit was propaganda and demonstrated her emancipation from fashion conformity. She became a beacon for the “We Can Do It” message along side Rosie the Riveter. She was the first female character to really break through in the newly emerging superhero trend, often outselling Superman and Batman, her primary contemporaries.

During the second wave of feminism in the 1970s, Gloria Steinem personally chose Wonder Woman as the perfect role model to grace the cover of the first issue Ms. Magazine. She remembered the impact that Wonder Woman had on her as a child, and knew her message was still potent. It was not long after the cover that Wonder Woman became the first female lead action adventure series starring Lynda Carter. 2017 will see Wonder Woman on the big screen in the first female lead movie of the modern superhero era, starring Israeli actress Gal Gadot.

Seventy-five years after her creation Wonder Woman now shares her status with the many empowered female characters she opened the door for. Xena, Buffy, Furiosa, Rey, the list goes on.

But Wonder Woman was the first and her imagery still remains iconic. Gone is the American flag motif, replaced by a Grecian style battle tunic, representative of her Grecian heritage.

Unfortunately, it seems that all Wonder Woman’s history, her place in cultural progress, has been ignored. The recent petition reduced her to pretty lady in a bathing suit, stripped her of agency. Just another woman who’s lost her job.

As one of the current artists on the Wonder Woman title, with a long personal history with the character, I was tasked with creating the art for the UN. I invested my work with a full understanding of who she is, how much reach she has, what she means to millions of people.

The purpose of this initiative was so incredibly positive, with the best of intentions, knowing how perfectly Diana, an immigrant, a pacifist and protector of all, fit this role. In the comics she’s held an ambassadorial role for decades, her love and compassion a universal comfort.

Like Steinem, I discovered Wonder Woman early in life, the first fictional character to make a significant impact on me, something that has remained throughout my life. Wonder Woman has empowered me since I was four. I can only imagine, now, what she could have done for other girls wanting a hero.