Pakistani activist Malala Yousafzai has garnered a special place in the international world with foreign actors, magazines and even organizations giving her love and recognition. Recently, Malala featured on the cover of Teen Vogue and opened up about healing from trauma, education and new wave of youth-driven change.
Dressed in a scarf paired with shirts in different shades, Malala is a student at Oxford University. She talked about her studies and her campaign work for girls’ education in her home country, Pakistan.
“There are hundreds and thousands of women and girls in all parts of the world who are standing up. Some of them we don’t even know — their names would never be known — but they’re changing their communities.”@Malala for our final cover of the decade: https://t.co/6PbFfWAnAC pic.twitter.com/DcVWw9tu9O
— Teen Vogue (@TeenVogue) December 16, 2019
“It’s like we have done our activism; we have done enough to raise our voice. And I think the next step is now let’s make the change, let’s be the change-makers, let’s get more involved in this,” the 22-year-old told Vogue.
Malala added that the new decade would be driven by youth-driven change, singling out fellow young female activists, Greta Thunberg and 20-year-old American anti-gun violence advocate, Emma Gonzalez.
“We have seen huge progress over the last few years, and now to see that young girls like Emma [González] and Greta are coming forward and they’re talking about climate change, they are talking about gun violence, and they’re talking about these different issues that are impacting all of us and especially what’s going to affect the future generations.”
Read: The world needs you and more like you, Katrina Kaif tells Malala
“There are hundreds and thousands of women and girls in all parts of the world who are standing up. Some of them we don’t even know — their names would never be known — but they’re changing their communities.”
Talking about Muslim representation in television and Movies, Malala shared her view that there are rarely any good examples.
“I think that’s unfortunate when it comes to the representation of minorities or Muslims or black people or even women. And I think in that sense, there’s still a lot that needs to be done. I hope to see that more Muslim young people come forward and present and share their voice, share their stories that they are also known as equals to everybody else and have a normal life,” she said.
Malala made headlines in 2012, when she was shot in the head by the Taliban at 15, for speaking out about girls’ right to education. She was just 17 years old when she became the youngest-ever recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize.
You can read the full interview here.
