Blog 7: Shooting of 14-year-old Pakistani female education activist

This article was written by the associated press and published in the Washington post. It is about a fourteen year old girl who was shot for promoting education for Pakistani girls. The young girls name was Malala Yousufza. She, along with two of her other classmates were shot on there way home from school for opposing the fundamentalist Islamic movement. This opposition to the Islamic movement was the result of her being an activist for the right to education for herself and her female peers. The responsibility of this shooting is taken by the Taliban. They justify the shooting of the young girl by explaining the reason, which is that she was promoting ‘western thinking’. The Taliban has been playing a major role in enforcing the so-called Islamic movement since 2007. They have been forcibly making men grow beards, keeping women from the market, and blowing up schools for girls for years now. The top leadership members of the Taliban explained that they had planned to kill Yousufza months ago and sent warnings to her family which were ignored. Taliban leaders explain that they hired three very well trained attackers and studied the young girls route home for months.Yousufza,  though very young, has played an important role in advocating for women’s education for a long time now. She was always appearing in the media advocating the right and she spoke out against the Taliban’s plan of action in the BBC journal. After being shot Yousufza was airlifted to a hospital in the city of Peshawar where a bullet was removed from her neck and then she was transferred to a hospital in the Pakistani army headquarters. Doctors said that the bullet entered the young girls head and moved to her neck going towards her spine. Despite Yousufza’s very serious injuries she is receiving treatment and said to be doing satisfactorily well.

This article upset me a lot. To think that there are some people out there who would plot to murder a fourteen-year-old girl for advocating a right to her education is mind-boggling. Everyone no matter there gender deserves equal rights to an education. The amount of gender inequality being showcased here is ridiculous. Why should Pakistani boys be allowed to attend school and receive an education but not Pakistani girls? This injustice and inequality will ultimately limit the growth and progress of their people as a whole. I do not see the way in which young girls receiving an education is “western thinking”. Additionally I do not see why women should not be allowed to attend the market just as their male counterpart does. Young women should not have to be afraid to try to learn. It is clear that there is a vast degree of gender inequality going on here and this way of thinking will ultimately prove to be a major set back for their country.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/military-official-condition-of-pakistani-girl-activist-shot-by-taliban-satisfactory/2012/10/12/24462478-1442-11e2-9a39-1f5a7f6fe945_story_1.html