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Aliyah Gadson
Professor Jennifer Byrd
WGST 3102-002
12 April 2016
Worldwide Feminism: Reaching Around the Globe
One child, one teacher, one book & one pen can change the world. Malala Yousafzai.
Malala Yousafzai is my personal hero, my inspiration, and a girl who has had a worldwide
impact on education reform for women. Originally, I planned to delve into three specific
countries to compare girls education in those places; however, after re-watching Girl Rising,
learning more about Malala, and looking at global statistics I have decided to showcase a more
general aspect of my research. I chose this topic because watching Girl Rising was my favorite
section of this semester, and I can honestly say that the research I conducted has motivated me to
do extra-ordinary things. The statistics and testimonials that I learned about awed me and has
encouraged me to make a change, stand for what I believe, and take actions to help girls see the
importance of education. Education reform is imperative and with it we can promote gender
equality, prevent sex crimes, and even strengthen economic systems across the globe.
Definition of Malala: sad, grieved; a 19th Century Afghan freedom fighter who sacrificed
herself on a battlefield and became a martyr for womens rights. He Named Me Malala was
released on October 2, 2015 and tells the story of Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani teenager who
was shot on the school bus by the Taliban on October 9, 2012 because she knew she deserved an
education. She serves as an advocate for the education of women and is the youngest to ever win
the Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. Malala once stated that My father gave me the name Malala.

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He didnt make me Malala. This resonated with me because besides the uncanny resemblance in
her story and the story of the woman that she was named after, she is telling girls all over the
world that despite your background or circumstances you and you alone have the power to create
your own destiny. Girl Rising directed by Richard Robbins, tells the stories of nine girls from
around the globe who despite rape, child slavery, arranged marriage, and many other hardships
are strong enough to understand that they deserve better. They are the epitome of Malalas
message.
In 2009, Malala began her work as an education activist through a blog. By 2011, Malala
had one Pakistans first National Youth Peace Prize. Three years later, she would go on to win a
Nobel Peace Prize for her fight for the right of children to receive an education and her fight
against the suppression of young people. Malala opened an all girls school in Lebanon and
wrote her own book titled I am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by
the Taliban. What makes her accomplishments stand out even more is the fact that she is eighteen
years old, nine days older than myself. As I stated earlier, Malala and the research that I
conducted inspired me to take action. I have decided to work with Girls On The Run, a program
founded her in Charlotte, North Carolina in 1996 whose vision is to have a world where every
girl knows and activates her limitless potential and is free to boldly pursue her dreams. The
orgaziation has grown nationwide and reached its one millionth girl this year. I originally
planned on volunteering at a school chapter, but I am going to strive to create my own chapter as
well as plan events here on campus to bring awareness to the importance of girls education,
girls power, and girls confidence.
If we want the world to grow economically we need to educate girls. According to Girl
Rising, a girl with one extra year of education can earn twenty percent more as an adult. In India

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alone, if they enrolled one percent more of their girls in secondary school their Gross Domestic
Product (GDP) would rise by 5.5 billion dollars (Girl Rising). The amount of growth that a
country like India would receive by educating its girls would stimulate their economy by leading
to more research, new technology, more jobs, and less poverty. When we help our girls, we help
out everyone else in return. In third world countries, women operate the majority of farms and
small businesses (Girl Rising). This tells us that women are entrepreneurs and that given the
proper tools, foundation, support, and guidance we can be successful and positively impact not
only our own economic systems but economic systems worldwide because at the end of the day
global economic systems are intertwined and can have extreme effects on one another.
Globally, there are 33 million fewer girls than boys that are in primary school (Girl
Rising). As we the years go on, less and less girls remain in school in underdeveloped countries.
Some factors that hinder them from attending school include culture, arranged and/or early
marriage, turmoil in their country, and oppression. A tremendous issue that these girls are forced
to deal with is sexual violence. Girl Rising makes us aware of the fact that 150,000,000 girls are
victims of sexual violence each year. That averages out to 410,958.904 incidents on any given
day of the year. A whopping fifty percent of all sexual assaults in the world involve girls under
the age of eighteen. A staggering eighty percent of all human trafficking victims worldwide are
female (Girl Rising). In Sub-Saharan Africa, seventy-five percent of their Accquired
Immunodeficiency or AIDS cases are women and girls.
Although arranged and early marriages are a cultural norm in many parts of the world
they usually impact the education of girls in a negative way. Fourteen million girls under the age
of eighteen would have been married the year that Girl Rising was released. That represents
38,000 a day and thirteen girls every thirty seconds. If all girls had secondary education in sub-

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Saharan Africa and South and West Asia, child marriage would fall by 64 per cent, from almost
2.9 million to just over 1 million according to UNICEF which is the United Nations Children
Fund. In countries such as Pakistan, when a girl is married she has to quit school no matter what
her age in order to take care of the home and prepare to raise children. Malala once said, Im
still an ordinary girl. If I had an ordinary father and an ordinary mother, then I would have two
children by now. The global outpour of support for this cause is great, but girls also need the
support of their parents or family or social workers and people who look like them. Groups like
the Taliban do not want girls to receive an education because they understand that knowledge is a
powerful weapon and that with it they could easily reach their demise. They want women to
remain ignorant, powerless, and oppressed in order to feel as though they are superior. Girls like
Malala are spreading the message that we will not tolerate injustice; that the world will not
tolerate injustice. They thought that bullet could silence us, but they thought wrong, Malala
Yousafzai
Another important thing to realize is that education can be generational. In Girl Rising,
we learn that a child born to a literate mother is fifty percent more likely to survive past age 5.
What amazes me is that before a child even has the opportunity to receive an education and
learn, their chances of being successful and even living are decreased dramatically due to their
mothers circumstances. This fight for equality is not only for us but for the next generation as
well.
Education reform for women and children is an issue that we need to support. When we
try to rally all the women and children and unite it is easy to forget that we have to get those who
are privileged and those who are oppressing us to see where we are coming from. Men can have
great impacts because they connect with other men. Malalas father is an example of a man

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whose impact made such a huge dent in the social work that needs to be done here. He
encourages and his daughter even in the face on death because he sees the value in the cause.
People tend to be more comfortable around those who hold similar ideals and values to them, so
we have to penetrate and break down the patriarchal ideals from the inside out. Although there is
strength in numbers, people do not take change well overall and may cling to how things are,
however wrong they may be, in order to keep the peace or feel safe.
Inadequate or discriminatory legislation and policies often inhibit girls equal access to
quality education which is why we have to educated these girls so that they may grow to be
lawyers, politicians, lobbyists and so much more. The fight for education is a fight for a voice. It
symbolizes a future or equality, freedom, and justice for all. In closing, Malala once said I tell
my story not because it is unique but because it is the story of many girls. Often times, we strive
so hard to be different and to stand out that we forget the fact that it is important for people to
relate to us. Having someone to look up to that you can connect with on a personal or cultural
level makes it feel real. It makes it feel like change is possible and that we can and will
overcome.

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Works Cited Page

Girls Education and Gender Equality. Unicef. n.p. 23 July 2015. Web. 28 April 2016.
Girl Rising. Dir. Richard Robbins, 2013. Web.
Malala-Yousafzai. Malala Yousafzai Blog, 2015. Web. 28 April 2016.
Malala. New Venture Fund, n.d. Web. 28 April 2016.