Rachel Griffin
Oct. 10, 2012
On Tuesday, a 14 year old girl, Malala Yousufzai in Pakistan was
shot by the Taliban on her way home from school. She was a target because she
spoke out against the Taliban not agreeing with women’s education rights. The
gunmen searched for her and shot her on the school van. Doctors have removed
the bullet that was lodged in her neck and she will survive. The attack started
when the Taliban stopped the van that was taking Malala and two other girl’s
home from school. The attackers asked which girl was Malala and the other girls
pointed at her and the men began to fire. The other girls had injuries but they
were not life threatening.
Malala grew frustrated with the Taliban’s restrictions on
female education in her town and decided to use the internet by writing about
her daily battle to express herself. She wrote about how these militants used
fear and intimidation to force girls to stay home. Malala has a real passion
for education. She talked about how she used to hide books under her bed
because of fear that the Taliban would search her house. During the rule of the
Taliban, they would come into the homes of people and check whether the girls
were studying or watching television.
This article relates to what we have been talking about
these past two weeks. The Taliban committed a crime against this young girl because
she was speaking her opinion. In Pakistan men feel that women should not be
allowed an education and that they should just be wives that stay home and take
care of their families. The girls in Pakistan are realizing how important
education is and they want to be able to learn and go to school so that they
can support their family in a different way. This shows sexism which is a form
of racism towards women. The fact that men don’t think that education is
important for women and that they won’t allow them to pursue an education is
wrong. This girl, Malala is paving a way for other girls in Pakistan and other
places just like that who are dealing with the same type of discrimination and
victimization.
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