Blog #5 Malala Impacting Her World

How Malala Yousafzai is Impacting Her World:

Malala’s popularity is rising in the Middle East as her speeches air on the news and young girls speak passionately about her in conversation. Many young girls were praying with zeal that Malala would win the Nobel Peace Prize. Devastated when she did not, the girls tell of how she is changing their hopes for education. The Taliban who still continuously threats Malala for wanting to now be a political leader was happy she did not win the Nobel Prize. They praised the committee for not choosing her, as false stories circulate the Internet about her not really being shot.

            Meanwhile Pakistani schoolgirls are now studying to be engineers, psychologists and doctors, they speak of Malala’s bravery, they have a Hero, and someone who has gone before them so that they know it is possible. One of the young ambitious woman states that there is nothing in the Quran that forbids women from being from being educated. In Pakistan 61% of the children that do not receive education are women, and Malala’s national presence is changing this for them.

It seems that Malala’s popularity is pushing education into the foreword in Pakistan agenda because although women are lucky to be educated in Pakistan, education in general suffers very much. This is very much a social issue in education policy as well as gender inequality. Instead of young women receiving an education, they are sold by their parents. But why is it the daughter that is sold? We see the Gender gap displayed in the differences in opportunity structures. We see that the woman has less mobility then the man. In Pakistan young girls are studying to go into specified disciplined professions such as doctors and lawyers. Even in America there is a very large gap when it comes to women being involved in these professions as much as men.  

Women are still threatened by terrorists in Pakistan because the society has for so long has been patriarchal. The strict religious groups have a hard time excepting positive change. Even if the Quran does not explicitly say women are not to be educated, the religion has manipulated to imply it because of this societal trend. The reason change is so hard is because tradition rules in the country of Pakistan. Tradition is beautiful and should be preserved, but also sincerely evaluated. It is important to look at where the power lies and how that is being distributed to others, or abused. 

Anna Jacobsen

10-11-2013

4:53pm

 http://world.time.com/2013/10/11/there-are-thousands-of-malalas-what-pakistans-teenage-activist-has-already-won/