Women’s Rights Theme Analysis

Perhaps the central theme of I Am Malala—even more important than the power of education—is the theme of women’s rights. Malala Yousafzai, the young Pakistani girl who narrates the book, is passionate about the equality of the sexes, and often quotes the founder of Pakistan, Mohammed Ali Jinnah, regarding this issue: “No struggle can succeed without women participating side by side with men. There are two powers in the world; one is the sword and the other is the pen. There is a third power stronger than both, that of women.”

Women have had a complex role in Pakistani history. Malala is a Pashtun, a tribe that traditionally confines women to the domestic world, and even “trades” women as if they’re objects. And yet the greatest idol of the Pashtuns is Malala’s namesake, Malalai, the courageous young woman who led the Pashtuns to victory against the British Empire (at the time the most powerful force on the planet). Since the founding of Pakistan following World War II, women have continued to play a conflicted role in their region’s history. Evidently, Mohammed Ali Jinnah wanted women to play an active role in politics (“side by side” with men), and in some ways, they have—Benazir Bhutto rose to lead Pakistan in the late 1990s, as the first female head of state in the Muslim world. And yet in many ways women are still treated as inferior to men. They’re informally discouraged from pursuing an education (for example, Malala’s mother, Tor Pekai, stopped going to school when she was only 6 years old), they’re granted fewer rights in court, etc.

Malala grows up at a time when women’s rights are in jeopardy in Pakistan. Following the events of September 11, 2001, the Taliban, a radical fundamentalist terrorist group, become prominent in Pakistan as well as Afghanistan. Despite the government’s lackluster attempts to control the situation, the Taliban use violence and intimidation to enforce their ideology, according to which it is God’s will that women hide their faces in public by wearing a burqa (a kind of veil), and refrain from attending schools. From an early age, Malala is capable of seeing the Taliban for what they are: disturbed men who, in a time of global instability, take out their anger, fear, and aggression on women.

In spite of the growing crisis of women’s rights in her country, Malala grows up knowing the value of strong, educated women. This is partly because of the role models she’s surrounded by. Her father, Ziauddin Yousafzai, is a charismatic, educated man who has believed in the importance of equality between the sexes for the better part of his life. Ziauddin uses his talent to run a chain of schools that offer good, affordable education for women as well as men, and also uses his literary training to pen popular articles arguing for the importance of women’s rights. Ziauddin teaches Malala to respect women, and gives her books that teach her lessons about the historical importance of women (even Malala’s name is a “lesson” of this kind).

As Malala grows up, her passion for women’s rights strengthens. She begins making radio broadcasts and writing articles of her own, in which she argues for equal rights and universal education. When she visits Islamabad as a teenager, she sees a proud, thriving city full of women with careers and equal rights. Women’s rights, she realizes, aren’t just important because they’re morally correct—they’re important because, just as Jinnah said, they’re valuable: they contribute to the good of the city and to the good of the country.

In the end, Malala’s enthusiasm for women’s rights proves too powerful for the Taliban to fight. Though they send a soldier to assassinate Malala, the assassination attempt fails. Moreover, Malala continues to denounce the Taliban and support feminism (though she doesn’t call it this) even after she nearly dies—and her near-martyrdom gives her a global platform for her views.