Malala Yousafzai is acclaimed as the youngest Nobel Peace Price winner. Born on July 12, 1997 in Swat Valley in Pakistani, she is known and celebrated the world over for her efforts in advocating for the right to education for girls in her native Pakistani.
Malala's consciousness and awareness on the issue of gender inequality started from a very young age. The book "I am Malala", tells of Malala's life story. She was born in Swat Valley in Pakistani. Her father was a teacher and ran a girl's school. this gave Malala a good foundation which ultimately led to her finding her calling as an activist.
Despite the traditions of the Pashtun people which celebrated the birth of a son but payed little to no mind to the birth of a daughter, Malala's father Ziauddin Yousafzai strived to give her all the opportunities a boy could have.
In the village which she and her family visited twice a year, Malala witnessed the continued degradation of women. In the village, the women were meant to cook and bear children for their men. Young girls were sold off to elder men who wanted younger wives.
women were also expected to cover their faces and avoid communicating with any men they were not related to. Malala, even as a teenager refused to cover-up to the displeasure of one of her male cousins. Her resolve was strengthened by the fact that her father stood by her decision and did not try to make her conform.
When the Taliban arrived in Pakistani from Afghanistan, there was an aggressive push to close down girls' school and later the girls' madrasas. The girls that kept attending classes were insulted and berated in public and those that left school were applauded and promised heaven.
With her father's support, Malala attended various TV interviews and openly spoke up against the atrocities committed by the Taliban against the girl.
One day in 2012, due to her outspoken nature, Malala was shot in the head by a gunman. She was then flown out of Pakistan to Birmingham, where she was treated and rehabilitated before rejoining her family which had re-located to the United Kingdom.
Due to her advocacy and activism, Malala was nominated for the International Children's peace Prize in 2011, and was awarded the Pakistani's National Youth Peace Prize. In 2013 she was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize but did not win the same. She was re-nominated for the same in 2014 which she won.
She was also awarded the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought by the European Parliament in 2013, and was appointed the U.N. Messenger of Peace to promote girls education in 2017 for an initial period of two years.
Malala is currently a student at the Oxford University where she is studying philosophy, politics and economics.
Malala is an amazing young woman who is from Pakistan, a country where the Taliban have wreaked havoc with women's rights. She is intelligent, religious, clever, and passionate about equality for women when it comes to their education. She was raised to believe that women deserve to be treated equally to men and was able to get an education in her father's school. From a young age, she became a public figure who openly spoke out about the injustices that the Taliban inflicted on Pakistani women and anyone who spoke against their policies. She became such a threat to the Taliban that they eventually try to kill her by shooting her on a school bus when she was in high school. She survived, moved to England, and continues to do the important work of fighting for women's education. She is an incredible role model of courage and strength for women's equality in education.
Malala Yousafzai is a Nobel Prize laureate for her activism regarding the rights of all children to have access to education. She is twenty years old and was born and grew up in the Swat region of Pakistan. In 2009, at eleven years old, Malala began blogging for the BBC about life in Taliban-controlled Pakistan. In January of 2009, the Taliban declared that girls would no longer be allowed to attend school; this ban was later lifted. Malala went on to appear in a New York Times documentary and was interviewed by multiple local and international news sources. She publicly advocated for female education. In 2011, Malala was the first Pakistani girl nominated for the International Children's Peace Prize. Later that same year, Malala won Pakistan's National Youth Peace Prize. As her public profile increased, she received death threats, and by 2012, the Taliban had decided to kill her. On October 9, 2012, fifteen-year-old Malala was shot in the head by a Taliban gunman on a bus on her way home after taking an exam. Malala was airlifted to Peshawar, where she received multiple surgeries, and a few days later, she was flown to Germany to receive the best medical care possible. The attempted murder received worldwide media coverage and outrage. Since her recovery, Malala has continued to work as an advocate for education, women's rights, and children's rights around the world. She has also published multiple books about her story, including a couple children's books.
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