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March 1, 2022
Austin Kuan
Rarely does the wedding of a 24-year-old woman capture the attention of the entire world. First and foremost, this young lady is not a member of the royal family, the daughter of a major corporation, or a music star like Taylor Swift in the United States. She turned out to be a young girl who grew up in the Pakistani countryside. Of course, she has something unique in that she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize at the age of 20. She is also the youngest recipient of the Nobel Prize since its inception in 1901. This record will most likely be difficult to break.
Malala Yousafzai, the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize winner, announced on Twitter on November 9, 2021, that she had married Asser Malik, a Pakistani national, in Birmingham, England. There was a small Islamic wedding ceremony. People from all over the world who were following Malala's progress sent their blessings as soon as the news broke, and the Pakistani government was the most gratified and relieved.
Malala has received international attention for her active struggle for women's rights to education since she was a child, but she has also come dangerously close to death. She won the Nobel Peace Prize for her bravery and persistence, but she was embarrassed and troubled in her home country. Because it is unfathomable in Central Asia and the Indian peninsula that girls are not married by the age of 24. Usually, their parents decide to marry them off before they reach the age of 16. Even today, when free love is prevalent, it is uncommon in Pakistan not to get married at the age of 24.
Girls marrying at a young age, possibly even completing "child marriages" before the age of ten, is a common and even important social tradition in India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. It would be fine if Malala were a general public figure, but she is the idol of many women in Pakistan, which is causing the government a real headache, especially in July 2021, when she was interviewed by the British "Vogue" magazine and stated, "I am not sure if I will get married." It even forced the Pakistani government to require that Malala's actions be removed from school textbooks in order to avoid a strong backlash from domestic conservative forces.
The Pakistani government is concerned about Malala's "confrontation" with traditional social customs because Malala received the Nobel Peace Prize for her "disobedience," which will be explained later. Fortunately, Malala married four months after the magazine interview, and the Pakistani government can now happily accept her once more.
Malala has been speaking out for girls' educational rights since she was 11 years old. We need to understand the environment in which she grew up before we can understand what kind of system forces an 11-year-old girl to take to the streets. She nearly loses her life, and all she wants is to be able to read in peace after the age of ten.
There is a narrow area called "Federally Administered Tribal Areas" on the western border of Pakistan and Afghanistan, with an area of about 27,000 square kilometers and a population of about 3.2 million people. Although this area is referred to as federally administered, it is actually an autonomous area that cannot be managed by the central government. If the central government can't handle it, it implies that there are some very complicated historical and political factors at work. The Pashtuns who live in this area share the same language and race as the neighboring Afghan Pashtuns, which is where the problem arises. Afghanistan was ruled by the Taliban regime when Malala was born in July 1997. The Taliban arose from Pashtun tribes in rural Afghanistan, emphasizing the rule of traditional Islamic law. It naturally influences the "Federally Administered Tribal Areas" in neighboring Pakistan, which are also governed by traditional Islamic law. As a result, Malala is nominally Pakistani, but her country is "indirectly" ruled by the Taliban.
Following the September 11 attacks in the United States in 2001, because the Taliban harbored and refused to hand over Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, the United States launched the Afghan war and overthrew the Taliban regime. However, the Taliban simply left Kabul as guerrillas and dispersed in rural Afghan tribes; Malala's hometown remains unchanged, and Taliban clerics continue to dictate her future destiny.
According to the Taliban's definition of "traditional Islamic teaching," women over the age of ten are not allowed to attend school and must stay at home to wait for marriage. This type of law may have been reasonable a century ago, but it is now pedantic and incompatible with human rights regulations. It treats women as reproductive tools, which is completely unacceptable in modern society. But keep in mind that Malala grew up in an autonomous region of Pakistan that was not under the control of the central government, so the problem arose when she was 10 years old.
Malala's life was made easier by the fact that her father was the principal of the local public school. Malala's father encouraged her to continue her education when she was ten years old. At the time, the Taliban searched schools across the country to see if there were any girls over the age of ten who were still studying, and schools were closed if they did not follow the rules. However, the Taliban's supervision manpower is limited, and girls over the age of ten who want to go to school can do so secretly. Malala's father discovered that his daughter, unlike the average 10-year-old, had her own political views, so he and his daughter frequently discussed politics all night. Malala, who was over ten years old at the time, felt that the Taliban could not decide her future destiny, so in September 2008, she decided to "disobey" and travel to the prosperous urban area of the autonomous region with her father to find a local meeting place for media to give a speech criticizing the Taliban for denying girls the most basic right to education.
Four months after Malala's speech, the local correspondent for the British BBC TV station in Pakistan asked her to help anonymously publish the Taliban's experience restricting girls' education on the blog. Malala takes the first step in her fight. Malala's identity shifted from anonymity to public attention over the next three years. She was given more and more opportunities to give speeches and be interviewed by the media. At the same time, Pakistani government forces and the Taliban were engaged in a regional conflict, and schools were closed and reopened by turns. To improve their image, the Taliban nominally allowed girls to continue attending school after the age of ten, but the situation is chaotic, and no one knows if they will be able to do so tomorrow.
Malala, who was 12 years old in 2009, looked around her chaotic hometown and decided what she wanted to do with her life. She aspired to become a politician in order to improve girls' educational opportunities. Because of her fate with the BBC, the precocious Malala met and exchanged views with world-renowned political figures on numerous occasions. By 2012, the Taliban were enraged by Malala's vision and international popularity. Despite the fact that they had issued numerous death threats to her, they decided to eliminate her in one fell swoop this time. On October 9, 2012, Malala was assassinated by the Taliban while riding a school bus and a bullet went through her head, neck, and shoulder in three shots. Malala, who had fallen into a coma, treated with first aid and surgery for five days. She was taken to Birmingham, England, for further treatment after being saved. She had recovered by January 3, 2013, after nearly three months of treatment, and the British government had also arranged for her to attend high school in Birmingham.
For a 15-year-old girl, this bullet that nearly killed her officially put her on the international stage and solidified her destiny: not only for the right to go to school for girls in the Pakistani autonomous region, but also for the right to go to school for women around the world who are denied educational opportunities; that is, to fight for their right to be educated.
In May 2017, Malala received admission to Oxford University. In October of the same year, she won the Nobel Peace Prize. At the age of 20, what she has seen and experienced has surpassed the path that many people can travel in their lives. If you say that she is the darling of the sky, don't forget that she dared to stand in front of everyone and speak loudly at the age of 11, worked with international media, and suffered a major gunshot wound at the age of 15. As long as such an immature, determined and strong girl stands up, she will deal a heavy blow to the country that discriminates against women. They must adjust the respect for women's human rights and give women room for education. Based on Malala's powerful energy and contribution, the Nobel Peace Prize skipped the consideration of age for the first time and awarded the prize to Malala, who was only 20 years old.
A child spends the majority of his time with his mother as he grows up. If the mother receives adequate education, the positive inspiration for the child's development will be stronger. Malala protected women's right to education, benefiting not only women but also future generations. What an incredible contribution! As a result, at the age of 11, she decided to refuse to accept her fate and rebel against the social system. Although it was a rare miracle, it was unquestionably a noble angelic act!