Malala Yousafzai
Was 11 years old when the Taliban banned girls from attending school in Pakistan via radio broadcast. “That was the moment that I realized that education was more than reading books and doing homework. It was about the empowerment of women,” Malala explains.
Yousafzai began advocating for the right of girls to receive an education, and the Taliban immediately made her a target due to her activity. In October 2012, while returning home from school, Yousafzai was shot. After months of surgery and recovery, she resumed her advocacy, becoming one of the world’s most ardent champions for girls’ education and the youngest Nobel laureate at seventeen.
“I raise up my voice not so I can shout, but so that those without a voice can be heard. We cannot succeed when half of us are held back.”