“Education is very important. Education is a power for women and that is why the Taliban terrorists are afraid of education, because with education, women will become more powerful.” This statement is said by 16 year-old Malala Yousafzai, who is a strong activist for women’s education, and was shot by the Taliban because she became an instant threat to their regime. I am absolutely astonished by the bravery she has shown by speaking up for women’s rights in her country since she was 11 years old in her Pakistani hometown. She spoke to every media channel and newspaper that would listen to her, in order to inform others of the negative impact the Taliban have imposed for the women in her community. She describes the struggle of being confined to the four walls in her house and being forbidden to go to school and learn. Malala shows us how women in the Middle East in general are struggling to for their freedom to be educated and just how much these women want to learn and pursue higher education.
In the United States (US) we are so incredibly privileged because women are able to go to school and are told they can be anything they want to be. However, as Eileen Pollack’s article has shown us, there is still a bias that exists and it not just men that think such things, but also women themselves. There is this mindset that still thrives in our American society that men are more competent than women and at times this prevents these women from pursing their dreams, such as occurred to Pollack and many others in her field. I think that if Malala read Pollack’s article she would be appalled at how many women in the sciences do not follow their dreams because of the lack of encouragement, lack of self-esteem that comes from professors, their families, and others. From seeing this three-part interview, it is clear that if Malala were to speak to these women giving up their dreams, she would say “women are more powerful than men,” which she confirms in the Daily Show. She truly believes that women and men are equal in every aspect of life, and women in the US need to think this also, because anything can be achieved through hard work and perseverance.
Babes & Books 