Malala Yousafzai

Who is she?
Malala Yousafzai, famously known as ‘Malala’, is a young activist
from Pakistan that advocates for girl’s education and women’s
equality. She is also the UN messenger for peace and the youngest
person to receive a Nobel Prize.

Inspiration
When Malala was 11 (January of 2002) the Taliban (extremists and a
military organisation) took control of the Swat Valley, the place
where Malala lived. These extremists banned many things such as
owning a television, playing music and girls from going to school.
They also blew up hundreds of girl schools. There would be harsh
punishments for those who defied their orders. Malala was very
upset because of this as she loved going to school. She spoke out
on behalf of girls on their right to learn. Malala further protested and
wrote blogs for the BBC describing how life was like living under the
terror of the Taliban. Her protesting made her a target from the
Taliban as she was a threat to them. Girl’s schools soon started as
little Malala’s protest got popular. But one day while she was
returning home from school a masked gunman boarded her school
bus and shot Malala on the left side of my forehead. Luckily, she got
good immediate medical attention and was moved to a hospital in
England immediately after the assassination attempt. She survived.
As she had undergone an assassination attempt at the age of 15 she
got global attention. This is when she started her activism for girls’
education in developing countries all across the world.

Organization:
In 2013, Malala and her father started Malala fund, an international
non-profit organization that aims to champion every girl's right to 12
years of free, safe, quality education.
To this date, the Malala fund has raised up to USD 3 billion for their
cause. Most of this money was donated by the governments of the
G7 countries and the World Bank. Justine Trudeau donated about
$300 million in 2018 on behalf of Canada.
 Actions and accomplishments:
As mentioned before, Malala’s first action of activism was at the age of
2011 when girls were forbidden to go to school by the Taliban.
In 2013, after her recovery from the assassination attempt, she gave a
speech in the UN. She got extremely popular because of her speech.
In the same year, she made an international organization for girls’
education in developing countries which, again after one year, she
gave a speech when she got her Nobel prize to make people aware
of the millions of girls that are out of school in developing countries
such as Pakistan, India, Lebanon, Nigeria, Turkey, etc. These girls are
often forced into child labour and child marriage.
Once more, she got global attention because of her speech and for
being the youngest person to receive a Nobel Laureate.
Malala has also written many books about her life and her journey.
She says, “I tell my story not because it is unique, but because it is the
story of many girls” (2020).

Followers:
Malala has 991 thousand followers on Instagram, 1.1 million followers
on Facebook and 1.9 Million followers on Twitter.

Why I choose to write about this activist and how their work
reflects my views.
I believe it is important to give education to girls as education is the
greatest tool for success.
If the millions of girls that are not getting proper education are
educated, it is estimated that it will add 30 Trillion dollars to the
economy! Educating girls will also reduce poverty, make their
communities and future generations safer and increase public health.
Additionally, 12 years of education for every girl will reduce the rate of
child marriage, child labour, sexually transmitted diseases, early
pregnancy and various other health complications.
 Summary of what effect they have had on the world :
Launched by Gordon Brown and the UN Special Envoy for Global
Education the Malala fund called on the UN to recommit to the
Millennium Development Goal 2. The petition received over 3 million
signatures and led to the UN recommitting to the target of children
everywhere, boys and girls alike, an opportunity to complete a full
course of primary schooling by 2015. The Malala petition also resulted
in Pakistan passing the Right to Education Bill in 2012, this bill
guaranteed that all children, aged between five and 16, would have
access to education free of cost. Parents who refuse to send their
children to school and employers who hire school-aged children for
child labour would be imprisonment under the new law.

What is Malala doing in present?

In 2020, Malala graduated with a Philosophy, Politics and Economics
degree from Oxford University. She has mentioned that after taking
some time off to relax, she will continue her fight for girls. On June 18,
2020, on the day of her graduation, she tweeted to express her joy
after the completion of her degree along with some celebration
pictures of herself and her family, she also mentions “I don’t know
what’s ahead. For now, it will be Netflix, reading and sleep.”