Malala Yousafzai: Women in Pakistan Live on the Edge of Equality

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Malala Yousafzai: ‘I’m Afraid of No One’

In the photo above, a Pakistani student holds an image of Malala Yousafzai. Yousafzai is a 14-year-old education activist whose campaign to win education access for girls became known to the West through her anonymous BBC blog “Diary of a Pakistani School Girl” and the documentary Class Dismissed.

Malala’s goal is to become a doctor. “I don’t mind if I have to sit on the floor at school,” she said. “All I want is education. I’m afraid of no one.”

On October 9, 2012, a Taliban gunman boarded Malala’s school bus, and shot her in the head. Malala is fighting for her life after being shot. On Monday, October 15, Malala was transported to Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, England, a specialized facility where wounded British soldiers are treated.

Photo: Mohsin Raza/Reuters

Praying for Malala

Students pray for the speedy recovery of 14-year-old schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai, who was shot on October 9, 2012, by a Taliban gunman at a school in the northern town of Peshawar, near Afganistan, for speaking out against the militants and promoting education for girls. Education for girls is considered a sin rather than a right by the Taliban, a view it violently attempts to enforce.

Photo: Fayaz Aziz/Reuters

Jailed on Blasphemy Accusations

Security officials surround 14-year-old Rimsha Masih, a Christian girl arrested and charged with blasphemy after neighbors accused her of burning pages of Islam’s holy book. She was moved under armed guard to a helicopter and transported to a secret location after her release from Adyala Jail in the northeastern town of Rawalpindi on September 8, 2012. She had been held since August 17, facing life imprisonment. The girl’s future remains uncertain. Three witnesses claimed to have seen Muslim cleric Khalid Jadoon Chishti tear pages from a Quran and present them as evidence against Rimsha. Those witnesses have since recanted.

Photo: Stringer/Reuters

Honor Killings and Mutilations

Honor victim Ayesha Baloch sits inside a hospital with her mother in Multan, Pakistan, May 25, 2006. Baloch, 18, was dragged to a field and, as her brother-in-law held her down, her husband sat astride her legs and slit her upper lip and nostril with a knife. More than 1,000 women are slain by their husbands or relatives in reported “honor killings” in Pakistan each year.

Photo: Asim Tanveer/Reuters

Weighing the Future

Siblings sit on a weighing scale at a wood sawmill in Abbottabad. In 2010, in the major city alone, 1,210 infants, 90 percent of them girls and most less than one week old, were killed or abandoned and left to die, according to the Edhi Foundation. Many of these infants are thought to have been discarded because adultery is a crime punishable by death or because these babies were considered too costly to take care of.

Photo: Akhtar Soomro/Reuters

Flood and Drought and Female Responsibility

Girls whose families have been displaced by heavy floods for a year carry water containers on their heads. While Pakistan experienced serious flooding in 2010, most recently they have been hit with drought. As the carry the burden of supplying water to their families, many girls in displaced persons camps sacrifice their chance for an education.

Photo: Akhtar Soomro/Reuters

Shrouded by a Nation

A woman clad in a burqa walks past the national flag of Pakistan. Society dictates that women must cover their skin in public, and social taboos force many of the country’s women who are seeking an education to veil their attempts to learn.

Photo: Mohsin Raza/Reuters

Food Insecurity

Women reach out to receive bread that was donated for Iftar, the evening meal for breaking fast during the month of Ramadan. An estimated 58 percent of Pakistani people are food insecure. The country ranked 75th in the Economists Global Food Security Index, largely due to its lack of infrastructure.

Photo: Fayaz Aziz/Reuters

Victim of an Acid Attack

Memoona, 23, a survivor of an acid attack, poses for a photograph inside her residence in Karachi. The Pakistan Senate unanimously passed the Acid Control and Acid Crime Prevention Bill on December 12, 2011, recommending a 14-year to lifetime imprisonment sentence and fines up to $11,160 for the perpetrators of the crime.

Photo: Insiya Syed/Reuters

Police Force Integration

In Lahore, Pakistani law enforcement officials train women for the police force. Women were first admitted to the police squad under the instruction of Benazir Bhutto in 1994. Women in Pakistan join the police force to prevent women from being harassed by male policemen, according to the Islamabad Police.

Photo: Mohsin Raza/Reuters

Protecting and Serving as Equals

Female Pakistani sky marshals practice their martial arts skills during a training session in Karachi. Women began training for the marshals program in 2002. Female candidates were trained in the same class and had to meet the same standards as men.

Photo: Zahid Hussein/REUTERS

Displaced by Flood and Helpless

An internally displaced woman holds her children while taking refuge at a school in Mardan. Heavy floods in 2010 displaced her from her home. Internally displaced persons in Pakistan number in the millions, driven to seek emergency shelter by conflict between insurgents and government armed forces, and local sectarian and tribal conflicts, as well as by nature’s cataclysms.

Photo: Faisal Mahmood/Reuters

What Can I Expect?

A Pashtun girl stands at the doorway to her family dwelling in the outskirts of Peshawar. It is likely she will not receive an education; only 26 percent of girls and 12 percent of women are literate in Pakistan. There is an 80 percent chance she will be forced into an arranged marriage. If you oppose illiteracy and arranged marriage of children, spread the word here.

Photo: Fayaz Aziz/Reuters

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Andrew Freeman is a California native with a degree in history from UCLA. He’s covered a wide range of topics for TakePart, but is particularly interested in politics and policy. Email Andrew |@natureofdabeast | TakePart.com

Malala Yousafzai: Women in Pakistan Live on the Edge of Equality

Malala Yousafzai: ‘I’m Afraid of No One’

Photo: Mohsin Raza/Reuters

Praying for Malala

Photo: Fayaz Aziz/Reuters

Jailed on Blasphemy Accusations

Photo: Stringer/Reuters

Honor Killings and Mutilations

Photo: Asim Tanveer/Reuters

Weighing the Future

Photo: Akhtar Soomro/Reuters

Flood and Drought and Female Responsibility

Photo: Akhtar Soomro/Reuters

Shrouded by a Nation

Photo: Mohsin Raza/Reuters

Food Insecurity

Photo: Fayaz Aziz/Reuters

Victim of an Acid Attack

Photo: Insiya Syed/Reuters

Police Force Integration

Photo: Mohsin Raza/Reuters

Protecting and Serving as Equals

Photo: Zahid Hussein/REUTERS

Displaced by Flood and Helpless

Photo: Faisal Mahmood/Reuters

What Can I Expect?

Photo: Fayaz Aziz/Reuters

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