Activist Malala Yousafzai
MALALA YOUSAFZAI is a Pakistani activist for female education and the youngest-ever Nobel Prize laureate. She is known for human rights advocacy, especially education of women in her native Swat Valley in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, northwest Pakistan, where the local Taliban had at times banned girls from attending school. Her advocacy has since grown into an international movement.
Malala was born in Mingora, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Her family ran a chain of schools in the region. Her father's thoughts and humanitarian work inspired her deeply. In early 2009, when she was 11–12, she wrote a blog under a pseudonym for the BBC Urdu detailing her life during the Taliban occupation of Swat. The following summer, journalist Adam B. Ellick made a New York Times documentary about her life as the Pakistani military intervened in the region. She rose in prominence, giving interviews in print and on television, and she was nominated for the International Children's Peace Prize by activist Desmond Tutu.
On October 9, 2012, Malala was injured after a Taliban gunman attempted to murder her. She remained unconscious, in critical condition, until her condition improved enough later to be sent to a hospital in the UK. The murder attempt sparked a national and international outpouring of support for Yousafzai. Deutsche Welle wrote in January 2013 that she may have become "the most famous teenager in the world." Weeks after her murder attempt, a group of fifty leading Muslim clerics in Pakistan issued a fatwā against those who tried to kill her.
Since recovering, Malala became a prominent education activist. Based out of Birmingham, she founded the Malala Fund, a non-profit, and in 2013 co-authored I am Malala, an international bestseller. In 2015, she was a subject of the Oscar-shortlisted documentary He Named Me Malala. The 2013, 2014 and 2015 issues of Time magazine featured her as one of the most Influential people globally. In 2012, she was the recipient of Pakistan's first National Youth Peace Prize and the 2013 Sakharov Prize. In 2014, she was announced as the co-recipient of the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize, along with Kailash Satyarthi, for her struggle against the suppression of children and young people and for the right of all children to education. Aged 17 at the time, she became the youngest-ever Nobel Prize laureate. Since March 2013, she has been a pupil at the all-girls' Edgbaston High School in Birmingham. In 2017, she was awarded honorary Canadian citizenship and became the youngest person to address the House of Commons of Canada.
To learn more about Malala Yousafzai's life, her non-profit organization, and her mission for female education, visit the website by clicking here!
