Malala Is A Mighty Girl

Thanks to A Mighty Girl for this post.

Congratulations to Malala Yousafzai for winning the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize! The Pakistani girls' education activist, who survived an assassination attempt by the Taliban in 2012, has been lauded worldwide for her advocacy on behalf of girls and women. Today, the Nobel Prize committee announced that Malala will share the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts to promote and protect girls' right to education. The 17-year-old is the youngest person to ever win the Peace Prize.

Since recovering from the attack, Malala has gone on to speak around the world about the necessity for ensuring equal access to education. In 2013, UN Special Envoy for Global Education Gordon Brown launched a petition in her name, calling for nations to ensure that all children are in school by 2015. Speaking to the UN General Assembly on July 12, 2013, the first Malala Day, she said, “The wise saying, ‘The pen is mightier than sword’ was true. The extremists are afraid of books and pens. The power of education frightens them…. One child, one teacher, one pen and one book can change the world.”

The Nobel Committee fittingly made the announcement on the eve of the International Day of the Girl, a day dedicated to promoting girls’ human rights and challenging gender inequalities around the world. The theme of the 2014 International Day of the Girl is “Empowering adolescent girls: ending the cycle of violence,” making Malala an excellent role model of how an empowered, educated teen can change the world.

The Committee's chair Thorbjorn Jagland emphasized these qualities, stating: "[Malala] has already fought for several years for the right of girls to education and has shown by example that children and young people, too, can contribute to improving their own situations. This she has done under the most dangerous circumstances. Through her heroic struggle, she has become a leading spokesperson for girls’ rights to education.”

Malala shares the Nobel Peace Prize with Kailash Satyarthi, an Indian children’s rights activist who has campaigned for decades against child labor; his organization, Bachpan Bachao Andolan, has freed over 80,000 children from forced labor -- and worked to educate and rehabilitate them so that they could go on to live normal lives. At the announcement, the Nobel committee said, “The Nobel Committee regards it as an important point for a Hindu and a Muslim, an Indian and a Pakistani, to join in a common struggle for education and against extremism.”

A Mighty Girl congratulates Malala and Satyarthi on their well-deserved Nobel Peace Prize!

You can read more about the award and watch a video of the announcement on CNN at http://cnn.it/1rkNoNZ

To share Malala's incredible story with children, a Young Readers Edition of her autobiography was recently released for ages 10 and up at http://www.amightygirl.com/i-am-malala-youth-edition

Her autobiography, "I Am Malala," is also highly recommended for readers ages 14 and up at http://www.amightygirl.com/i-am-malala

To help children and teens better understand the challenges many children around the world face in order to go to school, we've also put together a post featuring our favorite books for young readers on children's educational access issues: "Honoring Malala: Mighty Girl Books on Children's Fight for Education" at http://www.amightygirl.com/blog/?p=4057