‘ Our child’s surname will be Mirza Malik’
The ace tennis star also revealed that she has fought with many relatives who asked her parents to have a son to carry the family name forward
The very tennis player who had once shut a journalist down for asking her about her plans to ‘ settle down’, has now set another example of thwarting gender biases. At the ongoing Goa Fest 2018, where she was part of a panel discussion on ‘ Gender Biases’, Sania Mirza revealed that her son or daughter would take both the parents’ surnames. She also revealed that her Pakistani cricketer husband, Shoaib Malik, wants a daughter.
“Today I will tell you a secret. My husband and I have spoken about it and we have decided that whenever we have a child, the child will have Mirza Malik as his or her surname and not just Malik. So that’s where we stand as a family. Shoaib actually wants a daughter,” said Sania.
Much like any other Indian girl, the 31- year- old also revealed that she has faced gender bias from her own relatives all her life. She shared that her relatives would often ask her parents to have a son who would take the family name forward.
The former world no. 1 rued, “We are two sisters and have never wished that we had a brother. I have had fights with my uncles and aunts who talk about it or come up and tell my parents that they should have had a son. For us, daughters are daughters and there was nothing like wanting a son to carry the family name forward. I have not changed my surname ( post marriage) and my name is still Sania Mirza and it will remain that way. The family name is going to go forward in any case.”