An optimistic look at the future of girls education Malala Yousafzai

I am honored to be here and I really

want to thank everyone for giving your

time today

I’m sure things are not as you expect it

right now we are going through a

pandemic globally so I really thank you

for your patience and I really want to

thank Whitney and Ted for giving me this

opportunity to speak today I would like

to apologize in advance if there is any

noise in my house because I have two

little brothers and I have told them to

keep quiet right you know it’s out of my

control in the past three months I have

been in university I have

well technically university but I’ve

been studying at home and I left for my

Easter break and I did not expect that I

would be stuck at home for the rest of

my few months that were left in

University and I had to take my exams at

home I had to graduate at home and now I

am unemployed looking for jobs at home

so life has been or limited to home in

the past few months I’m sure it’s the

same for most of you out there and but

I’m really happy and really you know

just so excited overwhelmed that I have

graduated from Oxford I finished my

undergraduate in philosophy politics and

economics and the past three years have

been incredible I have grown so much I

have learned so much from my friends

tutors and professors and and everything

that I that I saw there now we are you

know in a in in 2020 which is probably

one of the most uncertain years that we

have experienced sort of in our time and

we are halfway through it and you know I

have looked into a lot of research and

and I’m hearing and I’m listening to

different people and what is clear is

that things may not be the same as they

were before but I think it’s very

important that we stay hopeful because

it is an opportunity for change and off

change and I’m hopeful that we

especially the younger generation will

make things better we are more aware

of what are the social issues that we

are facing from racial discrimination to

sexism to even you know poverty in an

inequality and discrimination in other

ways as well so there’s a lot for us to

fix and I’m very positive that this

generation will be more responsible and

they will make a better world for

everyone tomorrow I’m mala thank you so

much for being with us thank you for

that address thank you it means insolent

and you know first and foremost

congratulations on on your graduation

that is amazing you recently tweeted

that there will be lots of sleeping

reading and Netflix in your future and

so you know how does it feel to be

finished with college and what have you

been up to these past couple weeks so to

be honest my exams were really long

there were a month long exams and I was

just exhausted

I needed a long long break so over the

past two days I have just messed up my

sleeping schedule and for a lot of

people can do that and I right now I am

allowing myself I’m just saying that

okay you are allowed to do this for a

bit because you need a bit of rest in a

bit of break so so far it’s spending

time with family just I connected all my

luggage from my University so bringing

all my belongings resetting my room

because it’s still still looked like a

high school girls room and I was like I

am a graduate now I need my room setting

to feel a bit older you know to see that

transforming around me as well as much

as I see it within me and it has just

been great it has been tiring as well

but also it’s been great to spend time

with family that’s great well I’m glad

to hear that you’re actually making good

on that tweet to take some time to rest

and revive after it sounds like it’s

been a very busy in past few years well

you know so of course it’s one of the

world’s most famous advocates for girls

education this is obviously a really

huge accomplishment you know to finish

college and I’m curious just how this

has influenced you as an activist

especially thinking about the fact that

you had to head to the west and leave

Pakistan to acquire your education you

know what how is this influenced your

work it was always my dream to go and

study in Oxford and I am just really

honored that I got the opportunity to

study in the UK and then apply to the

University that I always aspired to be

in I think this is quite overwhelming

because a life that I had expected was

that I would continue my secondary

schooling in Pakistan that I’ll apply

from there and just as any other student

in Pakistan will do but you know things

all everything changed in 2012 when I

was attacked and I had to move to the UK

for my treatment for my surgeries and

since then I have been getting my

education in the UK I’ve been

campaigning for other girls education as

well because I realize that education is

empowering and there are 130 million

girls who do not have access to it and

those are girls like me once I was in

their place and I did not have access to

school and I wanted somebody to speak

out for me and today those girls need

voices so I am out there speaking for

them and also hoping that these girls

have a platform where they can raise

their own voices

what a pond I mean as you were juggling

your studies with your work how has your

work with the mala Fonda and all of your

activism evolved in the time since

you’ve been at university so when

Oliphant started like probably five six

years ago and to be honest I I had so

much energy when I was like 15 16 I was

just traveling all around the world I

was in refugee camps I was in Nigeria I

was speaking out for the girls were

abducted by Boko Haram I went to Iraq as

well and I have been to Brazil as well

serving sort of traveling around the

world because I want to meet the girls

and allow them to raise their voices

provide them a platform where they can

speak out about the issues that they’re

facing at work then local leaders

national leaders and global leaders need

to do and so in terms of that it was

quite

a lot for me because I was still a

school student and I would travel and

give a speech somewhere and then the

next day I would have a class and out of

homework to finish I would stay up all

night like finish my work in university

if I’m honest I did not put too much

academic pressure on myself I allowed

myself to have fun as well which I’m

glad I did I think I needed that to just

spend more time with friends and just

sort of be you know like other students

and not put too much academic pressure

on myself just to say like I was kind of

lazy and I allowed it which was good but

at the same time I would my vacation

time and my Easter holiday my Christmas

holiday to the activism that I do that’s

wonderful I mean I think for a lot of

people I definitely can imagine it it

must be hard to live than the life of a

normal college student as someone who is

as famous and renowned as you are and so

that’s incredible to hear that you were

able to sort of find that balance and

experience College in the way that the

average person does all really happy I

wouldn’t want me and they just treated

me as as a student as their friend and

that was just very helpful and I and

actually like sort of found that younger

side of myself I was always surrounded

by much older people and there was a lot

to learn from that but this was the

first time that I was engaging with

people of my age that’s great well you

know I’d love to talk a little bit about

your work and how it’s connected to this

moment and thinking about education for

girls you know communities around the

world have been devastated by the corona

virus pandemic in so many different ways

and could you talk a little bit to how

this global health crisis has impacted

girls access to education specifically

100% like over 19 is affecting people

globally and that include young girls as

well and Malala found we did a research

and looking into like previous cases

like Ebola and the research shows that

there are more than 10 million

who are at risk of losing their

education these are girls who currently

would drop out of their schools and may

never be able to return to their schools

either because of early marriages

because of those cultural barriers that

they face our parents are more likely to

prefer early marriage for them than

their education but also a lot of them

would be needed into workforce because

they will be a financial option for the

family and them would have no choice but

to send their daughters to and for them

and these are the girls who are really

vulnerable to being trapped in that and

they may never be able to return to

school and this is what happened in the

in the case of Ebola as well there were

many girls who did not return to their

schools and there is a risk that the

same might happen to girls in this

crisis as well and you know I think that

some people might make the argument when

you’re thinking about what’s happening

with the pandemic that we should really

be focusing our energy on building back

the economy and our public health

systems and thinking about how to find a

vaccine and that in this moment it could

be really easy for the issues for which

you advocate to get pushed to the side

so you know could you talk a little bit

about why you think it’s so important in

this moment that we keep the focus on

girls education you keep it central to

this conversations hundred percent I

think we should not forget about

investing in girls investing in women

and their empowerment they are sort of

the key the key players in in running

countries and running our economies and

it’s quite easy to forget about that in

to ignore it but I think it’s time that

we push governments and all the

responsible authorities to not forget

girls when they make policies when they

make decisions about future I think one

thing that is really at risk is

financing for education that has been

stagnated for the past years and all the

risk that that could go down further

that could go into negative so we don’t

want that I really hope that governments

stay committed to financing girls

education and this sort of remain gender

sensitive in that and ensure that

there’s equal investment in girls

education and especially their secondary

education I think

second thing would be sort of safety and

health a lot of parents might be

concerned about their children’s health

especially others health when they send

their daughters to school and I think

that’s something that the policymakers

need to look into that one other issue

that is the teen pregnancies in such

situations current pandemic the number

of teenage pregnancies will increase and

then the risk is that when these girls

return to school you know in many

countries in many local schools may not

allow them to return to schools so it’s

important that those sort of those norms

are challenged and even if because these

teenage pregnancies or have become

mothers at teenage that they are allowed

to get back into their education and

finally we need data we need to go in to

go and research how sort of and also

ensure that this is gender disaggregated

and it’s important that governments sort

of take responsibility for that I know

everybody would be pushing them and and

I I see the risk of it being getting

ignored there are other issues as well

that might be hard as well

so it’s time that all the champions or

the campaigners of girls education of

education in general of women’s rights

they come together and and bring our

voices together so they sort of grow

louder and when governments make

policies that our voices and our

concerns are heard you know and as you

were talking through this I I it really

strikes me that in this moment you know

a lot of the work that you’re doing you

often think about girls in developing

countries and and how access to

education is is limited in some spaces

in the world and and I think even right

now in wealthier nations you’re seeing

too that there are lots of girls who are

also not having the same access to

school that they might have had before

the pandemic started so I think it’s

really interesting to think about how

all the things you’ve just mentioned

apply to every corner of the world right

now

and you know I know our communities

watching and they have

lots of questions that I’m sure they’d

love to ask maybe we can get to a few of

those questions and seeing what others

have to have to ask you mala so we have

a question here from Laura you mentioned

that you’re now seeking employment what

is your dream job uh to be honest there

are many when I was probably 7 or 8 I

wanted to be a car mechanic because I

just thought it looks cool but right now

I think I am up for anything from

working at a farm consultancy working

with young people especially I really

like to see young you know the companies

that young generation are building that

are about a sustainable future so would

love that

and are also very much like to take a

break as well and travel but Open Utley

because of the pandemic that option is

is not as I expected it to be it’s quite

limited and restricted right now let’s

see what other questions we have ad asks

do you feel pressure as an activist and

how do you balance that with pursuing

other passions you have well I thank you

Eddie

I think there is pressure as an activist

but it is more so from me there is

outside as well but when I started

receiving support globally and I was

receiving letters and cards and from all

across the world and even now like

people are sending with beautiful notes

and it’s in thousand that I would not

never be able to respond to all of them

so when you see that global support when

you are at your most difficult time you

have that responsibility to to sort of

return or pay back and for me paying

back is to continue working for

education and I have remained committed

to that and and as I mentioned earlier

when I was out of school I wanted

somebody to speak out from me so I keep

on thinking about that moment there are

many girls right now who are asking the

same question they’re asking all of us

what are we doing if we were in their

place what would we have done so that’s

why

think about that revenue Malala and I

keep on fighting let’s take one more

question right now so from prasanta as

so many young girls are forced into

caretaker roles through this pandemic

with parents forced to work or have

Kovan 19 what’s the path forward to help

close the gap this generation is having

in their education oh I think one way in

which we can challenge gender-based

norms is by showing role models and

examples to people I think that has a

huge huge impact when we are growing up

when we are you know looking at text

work when we are looking at television

what we are hearing from our parents for

that young child for that young girl all

of those things are impacting her it’s

important that we look at our curriculum

that we look at what we are showing on

televisions and in other you know now we

have internet in those shows taught to

our children and what are we setting is

sort of the limit for girls if girls are

told to be limited to you know playing

with Barbie dolls then that’s what they

might have in their mind so it’s

important that we show them that they

can be scientists teachers politicians

prime ministers presidents they can do

anything and and it’s important that we

show them they’re role models that we

introduced him to they’re role models

and and I in the female the women

leaders that I know if they have truly

inspired me to believe that yes women

can have their voice on global platforms

they can be in those positions of

policymaking of those of change making

they can be presidents prime ministers

and they can run the world they can run

countries so I think when you see role

models that really has a huge huge

impact on you and I’m sure for many

people you are also one of those role

models but I’m curious you mentioned

that when you see role models of your

own you know who are some of those those

people who you look up to and who

inspire you um when we all mentioned

Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela’s

in there were fighters for equality and

against racism and right now they need

to be mentioned more than more than ever

for what is going on around the world

especially to do with black lives

so I think is to say that their fight is

not over yet but also especially

benazir bhutto who was the first female

prime minister of pakistan and also in

the whole Muslim countries so she was a

role model too to me and to many young

girls to believe that they can become

leaders of their country and in many

more especially when I meet young girls

I have met many girls in including in

refugee camps one was Nigella and she

was she’s a Yazidi refugee in in a camp

in Iraq in the smile on her face and the

hope in her eyes inspired me to believe

that there is future this future can be

improved we can make it better for

everyone because this girl in a refugee

camp she’s not giving up on her life

she’s passionate she is carrying a

dictionary she wants to learn new things

she she wants to learn one new word

every day and she’s passionate about

changing the world so that sort of gives

you hope so all these young girls that I

meet they’re also my role models you

know I’d love to talk a little bit also

about just the current state of girls

education so you know there’s data from

UNESCO that shows that girls in the

world’s least developed nations went

from spending less than three years in

school on average in 1970 to almost nine

years in school in 2017 and this growth

definitely in murals in comparison to

what we see in wealthier nations where

the average amount of time girls spend

in school is 17 years but it definitely

seems when you think about that and look

at those numbers that the situation has

been improving and so when you think

about your experience as a little girl

in Pakistan and compare that with some

of the of the things that you’re seeing

now through your work some of the girls

who you’ve just mentioned now do you

think that things are getting better

still are you seeing that there are

greater opportunities for girls around

the world today there are different ways

in which you can look at that firstly in

terms of passion of girls and girls

activism and seeing young leaders among

girls who want to become that change

makers yes 100 percent there is hope

there’s optimism in terms of the work

that local activists - there could be

young girls they

we you know men and women who are

passionate about bringing education into

their communities they could be working

in the most deprived the most

marginalized rural areas from Pakistan

to Nigeria to Brazil to in all these

countries and looking at their activism

with limited resources and with so much

hard work and with so many difficulties

that is truly inspiring and that gives

you hope that with this passion yes we

will see change but then when you look

at the government level and the in sort

of that global level in terms of where

resources are and how much is missing

how much is lacking in that that is

something that really concerns me and I

hope that while leaders make a you know

good commitments towards education they

make commitments towards financing the

secondary education of girls the quality

education of girls safe education of

girls but also fulfill those commitments

sometimes they make commitments but they

always you know they hardly fulfill that

so it’s important that we keep on some

leaders to to stick to what they have

committed and I’d have to talk about

that more just how we can keep leaders

accountable and how we can ensure that

they stay committed to this you know one

of the UN sustainable development goals

actually to one is focused on quality

education for all and then women’s

equality that you know the UN hopes that

we would achieve this by 2030

which is now just ten years away and I’m

curious how you think we we can actually

do the work of making that happen how

can we as individuals hold government’s

accountable what sort of things would

you like to see from governments to to

show that they really are making strides

towards seeing this happen mm-hmm so I

think there are many ways that an

individual can help whether that is sign

writing a letter to your MP to promoting

it and spreading that message on social

media you know tagging them writing a

letter to them engaging in in

campaigning that is going on for girls

education but another way which I truly

believe in is the

we need to support local activists local

educators and that is the mission that

Malala fund has been working on over the

past few years we started this Malala

for an education activist Network and we

are supporting more than 60 activists

around the world in more than seven or

eight countries and they’re also

currently changing their work according

to what how kovat has changed things for

them and for instance in Nigeria or

activists are using radio to give

lessons and engaging education related

content to children because that’s sort

of the means that works there but on the

other hand in Pakistan the champions are

working on using apps but also national

television because that’s something that

people engage with the most so I think

it’s working with the local community

that’s really important and in that you

can support Malala font or other

organizations who are focusing on that

so I think it’s really important that we

support these amazing and incredible

activists who are out of there you know

my father and I started as local

activists in Swat Valley so I understand

what it means when you give even sort of

little support to a local activist it it

impacts their work hugely and it helps

them in so many ways to improve their

work and reach out to many more girls so

that’s that’s one way to help it’s great

and I mean you started to list some

examples there you know that you’ve seen

in Pakistan in other parts of the world

things that people are doing and are

there other but are nations that you

look to and think you know wow they’ve

really they’ve really figured this out

they’re really getting it right in this

in this way and and that you think

nations can look to as models for how to

implement some of these strategies for

for girls in their own countries well I

think in terms of like what is the ideal

sort of model for girls education I

don’t think there is consensus on that

yet but you know in in the in European

countries especially you know in the in

the northern Europe those countries are

sort of considered to be role models and

in their education sort of is that

quality education that many educators

aspire for every kids

to have for every child to have in terms

of like the country that we are working

in when either the number of girls who

are out of school is the highest so that

countries include Pakistan Nigeria India

and many more and then the list goes on

in terms of those countries activism has

been quite difficult when these

activists from what policy level changes

they face a lot of difficulties when

they’re pushing governments to change

their policies and it sometimes take

many many years to see any change so

it’s you know we are pushing them we’re

pushing them and supporting them in

their advocacy work in terms of you know

there have it depends on the area where

like you know in in Lebanon they are

using these small electronic devices

called obscura which has all the

educational content that that those

children need for that age and you know

it does not require that much

electricity it can be connected to

multiple computers and they’re very

helpful in refugee camps and they’re

using it for Syrian refugee girls and

they’re also trying to promote it on on

the sort of country level in Lebanon as

well so the it sort of varies across

countries and where we are working you

know in the one hand it is a digital

device on the other hand it’s a radio

then another country it’s it’s an

airport it’s the local it’s the national

television so I think it’s really and I

think that’s sort of the bottom-up

approach that we we might need because

there isn’t there’s not that sort of one

fixed solution if you I don’t know iPads

to the north of Nigeria and if there is

lack of electricity and Internet that

might not work so it’s important that

you engage with the local at the local

activists and sort of find what is best

for that area

I really don’t sort of tailor this to

your own your own community it sounds

like well we have tons and tons of

questions coming in from our community

so why we take a couple of those right

now so Trevor

as a mail University professor what can

others like me in society as a whole

offer to support your passion how can we

be the best allies for you uh one way is

to go on Malala funds website lala dot

org and there are many ways outlined

there you can become you know you can

donate you can become a supporter you

can sign up through your email and you

can engage on our platform called

assembly assembly is a platform where

young girls share their stories and I

remember when I was blogging as an 11

year old girl sharing my story of what

my life was like under the Taliban and a

lot of people read it a lot of people

listen to it they supported me so there

are so many stories out there when you

know girls will truly inspire you and

you know when you see their commitment

their passion and their hard work it’s

just incredible so I would really

encourage everyone to check out assembly

on Malala fund and you know there are

also other ways as well in which you can

engage it just requires a bit of you

know 5-10 minutes your laptop Google in

a bit of research and I’m sure we all

can find ways how to help and Shaheen II

asks how do you give boys and men to buy

into the importance of empowering girls

and women um when my father has sort of

been an advocate in that he he always

shares his story of how he was

celebrating the birth of his daughter

while you know his relatives and

everyone else was telling my mom that

next time hopefully she will have a son

when I was born so my always celebrated

you know me as his daughter and he was

passionate about girls education

so when you have men role models who are

you know openly and vocally feminist who

not just verbally tell people that women

are equal to men but they practically

show it I think that’s the men we need

who will say that they are giving equal

opportunities to their daughters they

will allow them to do any job they will

allow them to have access to the same

Unity’s as boys have they will support

them they will stand by them when women

are facing any issue that so I think

it’s support it’s standing by it’s there

there’s so many ways in which men can

help and they’re very much needed

because you know some when we talk of on

sort of that bigger scale that’s where

the problem lies so when we talk about

the decisions that are made in a room

you know if in mostly these when these

decisions are about women what you see

that there are men sitting on that table

and there’s lack of women’s

representation there’s sometimes there’s

sometimes no woman on that table so it’s

important that we provide room for women

to be on those tables where decision

decisions about their future about their

body are made so women’s presence

women’s voices are very much needed and

I hope that men and boys need to sort of

stand up for that and and sort of defend

women’s equality and I know for you

personally your father who was a TED

speaker was was a role model for you and

sort of mirrored and was somebody who

stood up for you and gave you that womb

so that’s great to hear from your

personal experiences as well okay so

patrick asks the pandemic carries a risk

that authoritarian governments will use

it as an excuse to hold back progress in

girls education how might we prevent

that from happening you’re very light

metric and as I mentioned earlier I

think pushing government’s whether you

know if it’s in your own country we

could write them letters we could we

could do campaigning we could do it on

social media but there is a huge risk

and it’s not just you know authoritarian

governments in you know even in

democratic governments there is the risk

of losing support for you know

investment in girls education so I think

it’s important that we remind our

leaders from our local leaders to our

national leaders that they invest in

girls education and I have you know been

writing letters to different presidents

and

prime ministers and and asking them and

urging them that does will be impacted

because of what is happening and that

their support is very much needed right

now and that they should continue

supporting those education and there

should not stop that so there there are

many ways you know sometimes I myself

think what can I do anything there’s you

know from writing letters to doing a

campaign on social media all these

things can be effective let’s take

another question here we have one from

Miriam I understand that the number of

girls attending school has improved

greatly that the quality of that

education is often sorely lacking what

are your thoughts on the best ways to

improve the quality of education once

the girls are able to be in school I

hundred percent agree you know when we

talk about the girls out of school that

number is in millions but the girls who

are in schooling are not learning that

number is also in millions and that is

concerning because you know in in future

there would be more than you know sort

of billion girls who would not be ready

to participate in the task for

requirements that are needed at that

time and it was one of the studies that

Malala fund conducted it showed us so

there is that concern that if girls do

not receive quality education they’re

not receiving education about technology

that they might need in future they will

not be ready to sort of participate in

the economy and also I personally think

that we need gender sensitive curriculum

we need awareness about you know

sexuality we need awareness about

personal protection and I think this is

very much needed for for especially for

young girls and in regarding that you

know it has been one of the top

priorities of Malala fund to keep on

promoting quality education so there

like three things that Malala from focus

is on one is financing for education

there’s a huge gap in that and that’s

what we have been pushing for the second

is quality of education and with that we

are working with local activists as well

how it can be improved but I think sort

of looking into technology and then you

know making gender sensitive those are

sort of the key thing that we have been

focusing on

and the last is challenging social norms

that prevent girls from going to school

so that also requires that local

activism that can become a voice in sort

of changing the social in that

perspective among local communities this

sort of so much that needs to be done

but 100 percent agree the quality of

education is so so important let’s take

one more question and then we’ll take

that or I can come back and so do you

have plans to go back to Pakistan how

much of your future advocacy do you plan

to focus in in your home country so

advocacy has been focused in Pakistan we

have been doing projects there and you

know the village that my father comes

from Shanghai and both my parents are

from that village and there was no

secondary school for girls and when I

you know started activism and then I was

receiving the Nobel Peace Prize and at

that time I felt like I need to start

from my home country and I need to start

from that village where my parents of

growing up and there was no sort of

secondary school for girls

so I Derek I you know donated that money

towards that project and so in Pakistan

we have been working on their school and

now girls are studying in that school

sort of the first secondary school in

that village and everybody is just so so

excited and all the guys are so so

excited to be in that school and I also

heard one time that they were given sort

of their break and a lot of girls just

complained that they don’t want breaks

and they just want to be in school

because it has provided them that safety

that and that opportunity to you know be

creative and have that time with their

friends that they may not be able to get

otherwise so that have that has been our

work in Pakistan we want to do even more

and we’re you know caning or or advocacy

for the next few years I definitely want

to go to Pakistan and that is my home

country and and I love where I’m from

Swat Valley and it’s one of the most

beautiful places I’ve ever seen we are

surrounded by these tall mountains and

these beautiful rivers so it’s it’s

really a heaven on earth so

and I realized that when I came to the

UK the UK is pretty mobile city where I

live in Birmingham it is also very nice

city but I was looking for mountains and

I didn’t see any and I was like wow

surprising that this was a very unique

thing about where about my home town so

hopefully whenever this pandemic

restrictions are uplifted and whenever

things are back normal

I would love to go back to Pakistan and

the way you’ve described it I would love

to see Swat Valley it sounds absolutely

gorgeous I hope you do make it back

there um you know I wanted to talk also

about just activism and and you’ve

mentioned a little bit you know the just

thinking about how important it is to

have youth voices and obviously you have

been a youth activist you know for many

years and we’ve seen so many other

people and so many other spaces standing

up and speaking out against injustice

and inequality and calling out leaders

you know for even negligence people like

gratitude berg and emma gonzales and the

young people leading hong kong’s

umbrella movement and so many others and

you know i think it generation z is

definitely at the center of so much

social change and in many ways you are

the first with the mother of this youth

activism movement and so I’m curious how

you what you think about as you see so

many young people making real change out

there in the world but to be honest when

I started my activism has you know is in

10 or 11 year old girl what really

helped me and what really empowered me

was the support from my father and my

teachers and other people who believed

in my voice at that age

anyone could have easily told me that

Malala you are 11 you have no right to

say anything about these very serious

issues and you can go sit sit in your

room do some drawing and read some books

and that’s it

but I’m glad that my father and others

stood by me they valued my voice they

supported me and this is needed more

than ever so I

I’m glad that I believed in myself and I

step forward and I took myself seriously

right from the start I knew that I was

younger but I also at the same time knew

that I need to stay strong because if I

lose if I lose in this fight and if I

step back and if I started doubting

myself

that’s where failure starts if other

people don’t listen to me that doesn’t

matter because as long as I keep on

fighting I know that they will at some

point but when I start doubting myself I

think that’s the time when I when I sort

of failed so when I’m seeing these young

leaders speaking out whether for climate

change or against then you know guns

possessions and they’re talking about

gun control and girls are talking about

you know freedom and freedom of

expression and that just I feel so so

happy I cannot express this in words and

that’s something that I really want to

see in future I hope that more and more

young girls and boys come forward they

should believe in their voice I should

believe in themselves and I stand by

them I support them and I hope that you

know many others will stand by them and

support them we very much need them we

need their voices and I hope that this

group of young activists it’s sort of

expand it grows bigger and bigger we are

the future we care about our future we

want the healthier we want to safer we

want a better world for all of us and I

think in that we need to start our

activism now because there is just so so

much that needs to be done and that

needs to be fixed and do you do you

think that this moment is different in

some ways from the past how do you how

do you sort of frame this time in

comparison to maybe when you you know

first started being vocal about girls

education I back in the early 2010’s

100% I was in I was in grade five or six

when I started speaking out I you know

when you are young you want to envision

what your future is going to be like and

you always wait for that moment when

your studies will be completed and you

will not have those sort of constraints

around you that keeps your

vism or your movement a bit limited even

though you can still do a lot but you

still feel limited at the same time for

me right now when I have completed my

studies I feel it’s a moment that I am

looking forward to you know doing a sort

of flashback and looking back at you

know what I have achieved so far what

could I have done differently and what

is next and I do like the sense of

urgency that is right now

urgency for for change whether that is

to do with climate change whether that

is to do with racial justice whether

that is to do with equality against

sexism all these things I just love the

sense of urgency because it is pushing

all of us to do something now because

otherwise you know it is it is a status

quo things remain as they are and you

know those who are in power do not like

those changes so it’s him I’m really

happy that people are standing up and

they are challenging the current system

and what’s wrong in them because if we

keep on waiting I I just think there is

never that moment when you feel ok this

is the right moment to share in the

system because you might end up waiting

for your whole life it’s like another

couple of questions from the community

here so Chadbourne asks do you have

plans to enter government leadership in

the future not yet divided I think

government jobs are sort of quite tricky

you are quite limited and and if I do

want to enter into government leadership

that would be for sure in Pakistan and

in Pakistan everything is just so

complicated there are only a few

political parties hardly any of them

have a sort of good background that does

not include corruption or any scandals

that you know that you would love to

join that party and be with them so

there are these issues with every

political party and there’s also that

mindset that if you join that political

party then you have to defend them and

sort of you are you have to fight your

own

as well because if you disagree with

them and then you know all those sort of

things so I I personally don’t think

it’s I am I don’t feel like it’s the

right time to do anything in politics

right now my focus is going to because

education for the next five to ten years

and I you know I have I’ve been doing

that for for the last I don’t know ten

eleven years something like that so I

want to continue what and I’m very

passionate about education I hope that

in my lifetime I see every girl back in

school let’s take one more here so

Suhani asks how can we ensure equal

access to education for girls with

limited internet phone connectivity

during the pandemic when so many schools

are shut down I agree I think this is

this is also one of the challenges that

people are facing even if they have sort

of access to Internet and GPS it is

quite costly for many people and it is

very difficult to afford it and I think

it is concerning if you ask me for a

solution I don’t know what the solution

is but I think one of the best ways in

which you can address it is sort of

engaging with the local communities in

the local activists and when you engage

with that community they can tell you

that this is what is working for them

this is what is not as I mentioned

previously you know in some places it

could be a radio in some places it could

be the national television that could

really be helpful so we really need to

look into this when we should not take

it for granted so to go back to you Chad

burns question about you know thinking

about whether you’d go into government

so it sounds like that’s not in the

cards for you at least not right at this

moment I’m curious you know what what do

you see I guess for yourself in ten

years twenty years and even at the end

of your lifetime when you look back and

and see what you’ve accomplished you

know what do you really hope you’re your

greatest impact on history will be my

biggest biggest dream wish is to see

everyone in school

that has been my dream sort of since the

day when I myself was out of school I I

really remember that moment when I woke

up on the 15th of January 2009 and I

could not go to school this was because

the Taliban had banned girls education

in Swat and no girl was allowed to go

back to school and I realized that

education was more than just learning

from textbooks and more than just

writing and reading it was about

emancipation for women I felt more

vulnerable to being you know getting

married at early age to being

discriminated not being able to achieve

my dreams whether that was to become a

doctor or a teacher so these are the

things that are taken away from you at

the same time and that is since then I

have stayed committed to girls education

and I hope that in my lifetime I see

that I believe in it I you know

sometimes it sounds sort of too

optimistic and but I think we can do it

and and I am saying you know very

optimistic about that other I think

there’s there’s a lot more to fix I feel

like people we need to do a lot more

about empowering women allowing girls to

dream big and to dream sort of beyond

what society tells them to do and I want

to see more women in leadership I want

to see women running countries I want to

see women you know running companies and

big firms and going to space and you

know working in technology and being

part of all those sectors that are out

there so I hope to see that in my

lifetime and I hope to see a better

world a safer world for everyone

it’s great I mean and I think that you

know to just sort of end as we’re

wrapping up here you know it’s always

great to sort to hear what would make

people most hopeful but I think what

inspires a lot of people and what makes

so many people look to you as a source

of hope for themselves and as somebody

who they look up to as a role model is

sort of this this fearlessness that you

seem to have this this feeling that you

can sort of take anything on and I’m

curious

what what makes you afraid I guess in

this moment and then finally what what

makes you most hopeful but what scares

you um I think what scares me is is

being is probably being too slow and not

being not being true to myself I have

always believed in activism I have

always believed in change and I think it

is possible if you stay committed to it

so I hope that I stay committed to it

and and I hope that you know that I’m

surrounded by the right people who

guided me in the right path and and and

also I hope that you know after this

pandemic we do see the younger

generation raising their voice getting

that sort of creating that space where

they feel like they can contribute

towards change so I want to see more

young people in leadership and I hope

that they continue speaking out so it’s

just the fear that you know things

getting worse or I sort of stopping and

the activism not really fear but I I

just I just don’t want it to happen I

hope that we all stay committed to this

fight and and it is true people get

exhausted people get tired people lose

hope they don’t see any change there is

not just around by people who might been

encouraging them not to speak out

because just telling them that it could

be controversial or they might lose

support or they might lose this on that

so those sort of things are there and I

think it’s sort of staying strong in the

middle of those constraints that are out

there so I think that’s something that I

really hope that we all continue to have

what gives me hope is is is the hope

that young people have as I mentioned

young girls are in this younger

generation they are the future and I am

really really happy in and and hopeful

that they will be change makers and they

will improve this world they will fix

what you know our forefathers in for

five

sort of the mistakes that they have made

and they’ll fix the system that they

have created and we will remove racism

and sexism and other discriminations

that exist it might take time but we

will stay committed to it and we will

make a world that is fair and equal for

everyone thank you so much Malala for

this and I think that I speak for lots

of people watching right now and saying

that this has been inspiring and it’s

been wonderful to hear your thoughts and

your your perspective on all of this so

thank you so much for taking the time to

share your feelings on everything with

us and to talk with us today thank you

so it was wonderful talking to you and I

wish you good luck in everything and

yeah thank you so much thank you wishing

you can so much luck - thank you all