BOOK REVIEW

In October, 2012, the Pakistani Taliban attempted to assassinate Malala

Yousafzai, a teenager known throughout Pakistan for her outspoken advocacy
of woman’s rights, especially a woman’s right to education. Standing up for
women’s rights can be a risky business in countries such as Pakistan and
Afghanistan, where violent Islamist extremists have a strong foothold.

The book is almost as much about Malala’s father, Ziauddin, a teacher,

headmaster and local activist, as it is about Malala. He is the dominant
influence in her life and has been criticized for encouraging his talented child
to be outspoken in a very dangerous place. According to Malala, her Dad feels
guilt and a sense of responsibility for what happened to her, but also proud of
her courage and accomplishments. Ziauddin is a progressive, in Western
terms. He is the leader of the local environmental movement; he is a
champion of girls’ education; he is a woman’s rights advocate – his friends
note that, in a culture in which women are often neither seen nor heard
outside the home, he openly seeks the advice and counsel of his wife on
matters that most deem to be the province of men. He embraces democracy
with passion. He is a believing Muslim married to a very pious woman, and
opposes the Taliban and its intolerant interpretation of Islam. His opinions are
not just expressed in the safety of the family home. He is astonishingly – one
could argue heedlessly – outspoken. He challenges the Taliban repeatedly at
public events. He admits boys and girls to the school, equally. He is
undeterred by threats. In one memorable scene from the book, the local
Taliban mullah, accompanied by village leaders, pays an evening call on the
Yousafzai home to demand that Ziauddin stop educating girls. Malala’s dad
not only pushes back, he kicks them out of the house – this at a time when the
local Taliban is busy killing its opponents for far lesser affronts.

Malala hears all this from the next room of their small house. Time and time
again, she sees her father speak out and take risks in support of his ideals.
Like most kids, she is influenced by the day-to-day conduct and example of
her parents. She absorbs her father’s ideals and develops with her own
impressive intelligence, courage, talent and determination. Plans by the
Taliban to shut down the girls’ school are the catalyst that bring these qualities
together in uncommon fashion. Her advocacy on behalf of girls’ education and
women’s right is as clear and forthright as is her father’s. When Taliban threats
finally shut down her school, she tells journalists: “They cannot stop me. I will
get my education if it’s at home, school or somewhere else. This is our request
to the world – to save our schools, save our Pakistan, save our Swat."

This book is a worthwhile read. It is suitable for specialists in the region and
ordinary people seeking to improve their understanding of Pakistan, but will be
especially engaging for anyone who is interested in the story of this
remarkable young woman, whose life and contributions to the broader
community are just beginning.

IMPORTANT CHARACTERS

Malala Yousafzai

The author and central figure of I Am Malala, Malala Yousafzai is a strong,

intelligent, and intensely passionate crusader for women’s rights and the right
to free education.

Ziauddin Yousafzai

Malala’s father and role model, Ziauddin is an educated, articulate, and

charismatic man who passes on to his daughter a passion for freedom,
education, and equality.

Tor Pekai Yousafzai

Malala’s mother, Tor Pekai, is a loving parent, though she lacks the necessary
education to inspire her daughter as Ziauddin, her husband, does.

Khushal Yousafzai

Malala’s younger brother Khushal is a minor character in the book. He isn’t

especially close with Malala, and attends school in another town for much of
the time when Malala is becoming involved in her studies

Malka e-Noor

Malala’s classmate and “rival” for success in the classroom, Malka e-Noor is
as intelligent, or almost as intelligent, as Malala—yet she doesn’t fight for
education or women’s rights, as Malala does.
THEME
Perhaps the central theme of I Am Malala—even more important than the
power of education—is the theme of women’s rights. Malala Yousafzai, the
young Pakistani girl who narrates the book, is passionate about the equality of
the sexes, and often quotes the founder of Pakistan, Mohammed Ali Jinnah,
regarding this issue: “No struggle can succeed without women participating
side by side with men. There are two powers in the world; one is the sword
and the other is the pen. There is a third power stronger than both, that of
women.”

Women have had a complex role in Pakistani history. Malala is a Pashtun, a

tribe that traditionally confines women to the domestic world, and even
“trades” women as if they’re objects. And yet the greatest idol of the Pashtuns
is Malala’s namesake, Malalai, the courageous young woman who led the
Pashtuns to victory against the British Empire (at the time the most powerful
force on the planet). Since the founding of Pakistan following World War II,
women have continued to play a conflicted role in their region’s history.
Evidently, Mohammed Ali Jinnah wanted women to play an active role in
politics (“side by side” with men), and in some ways, they have—Benazir
Bhutto rose to lead Pakistan in the late 1990s, as the first female head of state
in the Muslim world. And yet in many ways women are still treated as inferior
to men. They’re informally discouraged from pursuing an education (for
example, Malala’s mother, Tor Pekai, stopped going to school when she was
only 6 years old), they’re granted fewer rights in court, etc.