by Emily Keaveney
When Malala Yousafzai was young, she could not have predicted that she was going to help change young girls' education. She probably didn’t even know she was going to become a leader and a role model to younger girls. Malala was born on July 12th, 1997 in Mingora, Pakistan (Alexander 2018). She was raised by her parents, Ziauddin and Tor Pekai Yousafzai, who have three children; Malala is the first born. Ziauddin, Malala’s father, was a school teacher at a girls school in their village. He also was an education advocate who taught Malala the ideology that all girls should have the same opportunities as boys (Alexander, 2018). Growing up, her father’s philosophy on equality between girls and boys taught Malala to advocate for that value when she is not receiving the same opportunities as the other boys. Malala went with her father to his classroom, where he would teach her the importance of knowledge.
In 2008, the Taliban took control of Malala’s village in Pakistan. The extreme terrorist group has very narrow-minded views on what women can and cannot do. The Taliban does not believe women should have many rights. Therefore, once they took control over the Swat Valley in Pakistan, they also posed many new rules for the girls and women living there. At just ten years old, Malala and the rest of the girls in her school were not allowed to attend anymore. Additionally, women were banned from owning a television, dancing, and playing music.
Due to the fact that the Taliban were extremists, and did not believe women should have many rights, they destroyed around four hundred schools in the area (Alexander, 2018). These actions of the Taliban angered Malala; she grew up with parents who believe knowledge is power and everyone has a right to it. When the girls got banned from school, and the boys could still attend, Malala knew something had to be done. Approaching this problem was tricky because the Taliban are dangerous and would obviously fight back on her resistance to their new rules.
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