Gender Equality Essays

For many years, many women and young girls have been fighting for a right to equal equality against men in Pakistan. Although there have been many changes throughout the years, there is still inequality in much of Pakistan. In 2009, a girl named Malala Yousafzai stood up for the right to be educated. At 12 years old, she no longer would stay silenced and went on to blog about living in fear of militants. After gaining high recognition, her cover was blown and in 2012, a masked gunman boarded her school bus in an attempt to silence her forever. Malala was shot in the head by the Taliban and today can live to tell her story. Her fight is every girl’s fight in Pakistan to allow education for all children, young girls in Pakistan.
In September 2008, Malala Yousafzai made her first public appearance at an event in Peshawar, Pakistan, at the city’s press club to protest the attacks on girls’ schools. In front of the national press, the eleven-year-old gave a speech entitled, “How dare the Taliban Take Away My Basic Right to and Education.” Her talk was well received. In early 2009, Yousafzai began blogging for the BBC about living under the Taliban's threats to deny her an education. In order to hide her identity, she used the name Gul Makai. However, she was revealed as the BBC blogger in December of that year. After that, she was interviewed on a famous Pakistani TV show with an audience of 25 million people. Yousafzai, M. (2009, January 19).
In 2011, Malala received Pakistan’s first National Youth Peace Prize, and she was nominated by Archbishop Desmond Tutu for the International Children’s Peace Prize. As she became increasingly visible to the public about her outspoken criticism about the Taliban, the Taliban set out to have her stopped.
October 1, 2012, a masked gunman stopped Malala’s school bus and asked for her by name. He then fired four rounds into the group of girls. Two of the girls were injured, and Malala was hit with one bullet. She was treated first in Pakistan but then moved to Birmingham, England for further treatment. The attack prompts global outrage.
Malala Yousafzai in an interview recounts that fatal day. She says, “Then He said, 'Who is Malala?' All the girls were terrified. Some of the girls think he might be a journalist. They were not expecting because we never thought it would happen” Bryant, B. (2013, October 13).
Since Malala's recovery, she has not given up her advocacy for educational rights. She has joined forces, speaking at the United Nations and all over the country to speak to everyone about how education is important. Malala Yousafzai has joined former Prime Minister Gordon Brown to support an education charity, A World at School to support a $320 million three-year plan to provide education for displaced children.
The plan that is backed by Unicef, Malala Yousafzai, and Gordon Brown launched a petition at, www.aworldatschool.org to try to gain the support of leaders to back their plan. The petition gained more than 3 million signatures and helped lead Pakistan to pass a Right to Education bill, a first in that country. A World At School. (n.d.).
Other recognition sparked the United States to introduce a the new bill, “On September 17, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved, by voice vote, the Malala Yousafzai Scholarship Act (S. 120), as amended. In 2011, only 81 of the scholarships awarded to Pakistanis under the Merit and Need-Based Scholarship Program went to Pakistani women, according the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA). The legislation would codify the commitment since made by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which administers the program, to ensure that at least 50 percent of the scholarships are awarded to women.” Bill to Aid Pakistani Women's Education Clears Senate Committee - Women's Policy, Inc. (n.d.).
Malala alongside her father Ziauddin both global educational advocates for girls started a non-profit organization called the

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Thesis On Gender Equality