Malala Research Paper

Malala: A Young Girl Fighting for Rights in a Patriarchal Society

A Response to how Malala Stood for Education Against the Taliban

In the United States, women everywhere fight for equality and fairness in the workplace, in the media, in education systems, and religious organizations. We fight for these rights as if our society and every-day function rely on these arguments and social stands, but I don’t believe we truly realize how fortunate we are with the social freedoms and equalities in society we possess as American women. A TED Talks seminar by a man named Ziauddin Yousafzai brought this realization to surface in my mind and nearly brought me to tears. He spoke in reference to the traditions and societal structure of Pakistan, where he is an educator and father of a remarkable young girl (Yousafzai, 2014). This is where the story of his daughter comes in, and where you start to question the validity of some so-called “realities” that have been imposed upon us.

In the patriarchal society of so many developing countries and tribal groups, including Ziauddin and Malala’s home country of Pakistan, women are never looked upon as having value as a being, not even to mention the possibility of having a job, enrolling in school, owning any

Being allowed an education gives a woman a sense of pride. It means that she is being recognized as being of value. Malala, Ziauddin Yousafzai’s daughter, felt this very pride when her father allowed her to go to his school, and fired her passion for advocating for education in a city where the Taliban was trying to desperately to eliminate it. This wasn’t without consequence though, and in 2012, she was fired at point-blank while trying to do nothing more than board a bus for school. It is to my understanding that Malala survived through this trial, and is still fighting the good fight to this