Historical Figure
Malala Yousafzai
b. 1997
Pakistani education activist (born 1997)
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Biography
Malala Yousafzai is a Pakistani female education activist, and producer of film and television. She is the youngest Nobel Prize laureate in history, receiving the Peace Prize in 2014 at age 17, and is the second Pakistani and the only Pashtun to receive a Nobel Prize. Yousafzai is a human rights advocate for the education of women and children in her native district, Swat, where the Pakistani Taliban had at times banned girls from attending school. Her advocacy has grown into an international movement, and according to former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, she has become Pakistan's "most prominent citizen".
Timeline
The story of Malala Yousafzai, told in moments.
Begins writing a blog for the BBC Urdu service under a pseudonym. She's 11. The Taliban have banned girls from attending school in Swat. She writes about hiding her books under her shawl on the way to class.
A Taliban gunman boards her school bus and asks for her by name. He shoots her in the head. The bullet travels through her face and lodges in her shoulder. She's 15. They airlift her to Birmingham, England, for brain surgery. She survives.
Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize at 17. The youngest laureate in history. She splits it with Kailash Satyarthi, an Indian children's rights activist. At the ceremony she says: 'This award is not just for me. It is for those forgotten children who want education.'
Graduates from Oxford with a degree in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics. She'd applied while recovering from surgeries. The Malala Fund operates in eight countries, supporting education for girls in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Nigeria, and beyond.
In Their Own Words (20)
A girl has the power to go forward in her life. And she’s not only a mother, she’s not only a sister, she’s not only a wife. But a girl has the – she should have an identity. She should be recognized and she has equal rights as a boy.
2014
Education is one of the blessings of life — and one of its necessities.
2014
First of all, my father inspired me...he is a great social activist and women's rights activist...he spoke out. And he spoke for women's rights...that hard situation, he inspired me, because he spoke. And that's what I learned from him.
2013
My father says that education is neither Eastern or Western. Education is education: it's the right of everyone.
2013
The content of a book holds the power of education and it is with this power that we can shape our future and change lives.
2013
Artifacts (15)
I Am Malala: How One Girl Stood Up for Education and Changed the World (Young Readers Edition)
In this New York Times bestselling memoir, Malala Yousafzai—the youngest winner of the Nobel Peace Prize—inspires young readers with her stunning story of resilience and power. I Am Malala. This is...
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