The Life Story of Pakistani Female Activist, Malala Yousafzai

Born in 1997 to a Pakistani family, Malala’s family was prepared to raise her as the equivalent to any male that would grow up in her society. Her father, a teacher himself, made sure she would attend school and learn through the teachings of the world as well. In 2007, at the age of ten, Malala’s home, the Swat Valley, is taken over by Taliban forces and by 2008 they ban girls from attending school. In early 2009 Malala begins to write for BBC under the alias Gul Makai where she described her life as a woman in her society as well as her feelings towards her school closing. The Pakistani army then came into the Swat Valley in an attempt to drive the Taliban out. During this period between May and October of 2009 over one million people fled the Valley to other areas of Pakistan. In 2011 the Taliban reluctantly retreats but not too far out of the area. Malala and her father’s school can reopen and Malala takes this time to campaign for other women to attend school despite some fear of speaking against the Taliban. At the age of fourteen Malala is awarded with Pakistan’s first National Youth Peace Prize. Due to her active role in campaigning against the Taliban’s ideas Malala is targeted and later shot on her school bus in her head, neck, and shoulder. After being transported to the United Kingdom, Malala receives months of rehabilitation including surgery and therapy. Within two months of her discharge from the hospital Malala returned back to school. The UN has since pronounced July 12th, Malala’s birthday, Malala Day which she uses to work with girls in need of assistance every year. After years of work and meeting with global leaders in 2014 Malala and a group of girls from Syria, Nigeria, and Pakistan flew to Oslo where Malala was the youngest person to ever win the Nobel Peace Prize. Malala now attends Oxford University but she still works for women's rights in all forms.

As a young adult woman in a society built on the actions of grown men I have often felt unempowered and almost brought down. What Malala has done, at the age she has done it at, is something we are all capable of doing if we put our minds to a cause that affects us. Although we can not necessarily relate to having to protest a war that is in our country, Malala’s message is simply doing what's good for others. My favorite part of Malala’s work is that she is not going head first into a concept she could not grasp but something that she was going through firsthand. In a sense she was fighting for others but also herself on the sidelines. My passion for Malala’s cause is backed by the extremity she went to in order to fight for something people look over every single day. She was only roughly twelve years old when she began to write against the Taliban. It was not like she was writing about a small rebel group or something that was happening across the world, but it was affecting her personally in her own hometown. Malala crosses boundaries everyday by continuing her fight for women across the world.