Intersectionality analysis: Malala Yousefazai, Girls Education Champion and Activist 

“When the whole world is silent, even one voice becomes powerful ” Malala stated.

She was only 11 years old when she protested her for her right to education and ghost wrote a blog for the BBC  while  the Taliban was threatening to close girls schools in Mingora (Swat Valley) in Pakistan who dared to voiced out fought rights for women education.This person I choose who I admire and has a very unique personality is Malala Yousafzai. She is a warrior and survivor who stands up and fights for girl’s education from Pakistan. She is very brave because the place she was born was oppressed by the patriarchal society where it is impossible to think about getting an education. I want to explain about intersectionality and then the reason why I think Malala beats odd about navigating the world through her tapping into her identities and empowering herself.

According to Oxford Dictionary ” The interconnected nature of social categorizations such as race, class, and gender, regarded as creating overlapping and interdependent systems of discrimination or disadvantage; a theoretical approach based on such a premise”. Intersectionality is a term that utilizes critical theory to understand how differing identities including but not limited to race, gender, color, culture, sexual orientation, education, descriminiation, location, political affiliation and more intertwine with each other to affect the expected outcomes of a human being’s life. Malala is a young feminist girl and she was opressed by the Taliban, a patriarchal driven society where no girls are allowed to get their education. She was a muslim girl, born in Swath Valley in Pakistan and the Taliban restricts girls’ rights to education. Due to colonialism, sexism, ableism and other isms, South Asian culture has been heavily influenced by patriarchal authority where their traditions greatly affect the women of the country which led women are often disadvantaged by oppression. Malala intersectional identities as a young muslim girl and feminist advocating against the oppression she faced, showcases the power one can find in advocating for the very things that they believe in. In Malala’s case, girls’ education, being a student, advocate, Pakistani girl all contributed to that reality.

Malala was born in a place where she had to face every day challenges to get her basic rights which she was desperate to get an education .She was a child who was only 11 years old  when she spoke out and protested these conspiracy theories for the Taliban and they threatened her to stop protesting. but it didint stop her to  movement against oppression women education discrimination.Men has been always higher power than women in every fact in life specially in south east Asia..She was hiding her identity and using her name is Gul Makai. in order to continue her fight against oppression of Taliban. 

She was continuing advocating for girls education for four years and taking risks in her own life evn it wasn’t easy at that place.When she was 15 years old was shot in the head by the Taliban but she survived. This story is so  powerful which shows females that epitomizes and exudes where it relates to her position to power and privilege, Intersectional feminism definition defines Malala because she was in a position where descrimination as gender equality issues and to account for the intersectionality of gender with social identity. She was facing multiple sources of oppression because her religion, gender,class and identity markers.This disadvantages made her  so vulnerable in a way she took initiative to beat the odds and it was essential to combatting prejudices she was facing in her daily life. It was a remarkable movement in that setting where men are always dominating household decisions to mainstream positions. More importantly, muslim women where they found it difficult to identify their many issues bring to the mainstream especially brown feminist, it was beyond unthinkable to take position and put an individual speak to  led the movement which is Malala navigate the world through her multiple identities. She did what makes her unique in a way where she showed courage to overcome the unstable positioned making her statements to the Taliban clear she can’t be oppressed by them.She is differs from how the majority of the people within these categories who are girls where gender equality questionable in every aspects  are  positioned.Her another identities makes her different from others are she breaks glass ceiling being girls fought the rights for women’s education which is never happened before in Pakistan .In fact, after gun shot by the Taliban she was rushed to the treatment to U.K where she recover her injury and she settled down there .She started her education at Oxford University where she recently finished her bachelor degree. Now she is an activist and advocate for education , especially education for women.Malala Yousufzai became the first girl in southeast east asia youngest recipient of the Nobel Peace prize which she was awarded in 2014. 

“When the whole world is silent, even one voice becomes powerful ” Malala stated. Malala’s quote is so powerful and justified that even though the whole village was silent, she didn’t hold herself in that position, rather she spoke out and our voice became more than ever for women’s education rights.