The Impact of Malala Yousafzai

Malala Yousafzai (pronounced muh·laa·luh yoo·suhf·za) is the youngest Nobel Peace Prize winner in history today. She is 28 years old today; however, when she received the award in 2014, she was only 17 years old. She received the award for her advocacy for the importance of women’s education in countries where not all women are receiving the education that they deserve. Her mission is to make the world a place where everyone has access to education despite your gender. 

Her mission gained fuel when she was very young. At only 11 years old a Taliban group had started to take control of the town that she grew up in, Swat Valley.  These groups had started to place a ban on several things and if people did not comply then they received harsh punishments. This Taliban group prohibited girls from getting education. This was the beginning of her activist journey. She had started to speak out publicly against these rules and show why girls were deserving of an education. However, this made her a target for these Taliban groups. 

An unfortunate accident happened in October of 2012 when she was shot on the left side of her head while going back home on her school bus. Luckily she survived, but this disturbing situation was heard all over the world and many people were praying for her recovery. This shed more light and understanding about who she was and what she was fighting for. While this should have never happened, it was able to give her a greater influence around the world and allowed her to reach a bigger audience with her later speeches. 

Malala Yousafzai has been an incredible influence to many around the world and has helped tremendously with the fight for women's education. She has written multiple books and memoirs to highlight her journey and achievements made. She has been presented with many different awards and the most notable being the Nobel Peace Prize as well as the Pakistan’s National Peace Award for Youth. 

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