Meet Malala Yousafzai as part of our series “Inspirational You, Awesome Sisters United” about women in medicine achieving incredible things in today’s world.
We at IYASU vegan medical bags are proud to support the Malala fund by pledging to donate 5% of its profits to this cause. Read on to find out more about Malala Yousafzai and her charity work.
About Malala
Malala Yousafzai is the world-famous young activist for girls’ education. Born in Pakistan, she was shot in the head by the Taliban at the age of 15 for publicly expressing her views on every girl’s right to learn. In 2014, at the age of 17, she became the youngest Nobel Peace Prize Laureate.
Malala recently graduated from Oxford University with a degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics. Her charity, the Malala Fund supports the fight to ensure that all girls receive 12 years of free, safe, quality education.
Beginnings
Malala was born in Mingora, Pakistan on July 12th 1997. Sadly, many families in Asian countries still favour the birth of a son over that of a daughter. However, Malala’s father, Ziauddin Yousafzai who founded and taught in the all-girls’ school in their village, sought to give his daughter every opportunity a boy would have.
Malala loved school. But when she was 11 years old, the Taliban gained control. The extremists took away many pleasures including people’s televisions and musical instruments. They also made it illegal for girls to attend school.
Malala defied their gender discrimination and spoke out for the basic right of every child to education. She became a blogger for the BBC under the pseudo-identity of Gul Makai. But her true identity was soon discovered, and Malala became a target for the Taliban.
On a journey home from school in 2012, a masked gunman boarded the bus and asked 3 girls “Which one of you is Malala?” He then fired a bullet, hitting Malala in the left side of her head. The other girls were also injured.
15 year old Malala was flown to a military hospital in Peshawar where part of her skull was removed due to the swelling of her brain. She was then transferred to Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham. There she underwent multiple surgeries, including repair of her left facial nerve. Malala’s family moved to the UK and she continued her schooling in Birmingham and afterwards at Oxford University.
Investing In Girls’ Education
News of the attack on Malala prompted worldwide support for her and her fight for education. Malala addressed the United Nations asking for world leaders to “invest in books instead of bullets”. She has won countless awards, including the Nobel Peace Prize and continues to strive for equality of education across genders in every nation.
Over 130 million girls remain out of school due to poverty, war and gender discrimination. Girls are forced into child labour, early marriage and early motherhood.
Investing in girls’ education has been shown to have economic, environmental and political benefits:
- Each additional year of schooling reduces infant mortality and child marriage rates
- Educated girls are less likely to contract HIV
- Educated girls are more likely to have healthy, educated children
- When a country gives all its children secondary education their risk of war is halved
- Extremism grows alongside inequality so education for all is vital for security
- Millions more educated girls mean more women in highly paid jobs. This translates to trillions of dollars in global economic growth
- Schooling for girls has also been shown to be the most cost-effective and best investment against climate change.
IYASU is commited to supporting this worthy charity and believes passionately in the right to education for every child.
