Globally Free: Women in the World: Day One

The Women in the World Summit was absolutely amazing! We had the opportunity to listen to and meet so many wonderful people, all of who are making a difference in the world. On the first day the speakers who stood out most to me were Angelina Jolie, Khalida Brohi, and Humaira Bachal. There are so many other amazing people I want to tell you about and I will just not right now. Writing about all these people in one post would be insane. One of the first speakers was Angelina Jolie. She spoke to honor Malala Yousafzai, a young Pakistani girl who was shot by the Taliban for advocating the importance of girl’s education. After Angelina’s speech, Tina Brown, the editor of Newsweek, announced to us that Vital Voice has started the Malala Fund in which Angelina had pledged $200,000 that evening. The money given to this fund will be directed by Malala herself and will help girl’s in Pakistan get the proper schooling that they all deserve. Malala is not alone. Khalida and Humaira are two other young Pakistani girls who are also making a difference.

What I want you all to know is that Malala was not just a victim of a random act of violence. She was singled out by the Taliban for her actions. In early 2009, Malala wrote a blog for the BBC under a fake name, describing her life under Taliban rule. These writings advocated the education of girls and angered many people. Somehow the Taliban discovered Malala’s real name and that she was just a young girl wanting other girls to receive the same education that she herself was getting. That theatened them so much that on October 12, 2012 they boarded her school bus, asked what one was Malala and shot her in the head. She was shot at point-blank range in the head while on her school bus in an attempt to silence her, but this only made her stronger. Somehow she survived and is continuing to bring awareness to the lack of education available for young girls in Pakistan. Malala is lucky to have parents that are educated and that understand the importance of their children getting an education as well. Her father always thought that he would be the one with death threats, that sooner or later someone would come for him. He could never have imagined that Malala would be the victim.

Later on in the evening, two girls from Pakistan were interviewed. Khalida Brohi is the founder and director of the Sughar Women Program and only 24 years old, she works to end the tribal violence against women in Pakistan, and Humaira Bachal is the founder and director of the Dream Foundation Trust, an organization that starts schools in her area. The two girls talked about the issues regarding women and girls in Pakistan. In the rural areas of Pakistan, girls are married off at as young as nine years old and then live the rest of their lives under the control of their husbands. These women are not allowed to leave their home except under very special circumstances and even then they must be escorted by a man. Brohi and Bachal told us that these sexist, often uneducated men do not want women to be educated because educated women become independent women, and independent women pose as a threat to their power.

A documentary filmmaker, Sahrmeen Obaid, was interviewed with the girls as well. A clip of a film she made in collaboration with Khalida was shown. In the clip, Kahlida is seen talking to a group of men from a rural village in Pakistan. She asks them what their response would be if a women wanted an education, or went to market by herself, no matter what the scenario was, the men answered the same. While laughing, they responded that, “The answer would be a bullet.”

I had the opportunity to meet these girls and speak with them during dinner. Humaira reminded me of any other 15 year old girl. She reminded me of my friends and of myself. But I do not know if I would have the courage she and Khalida posses. I don't know if I would go to school knowing I could get killed. I do know that it made me realize we do not all live in the same world and I also know that after meeting them I feel more courageous to step out of my comfort zone and stand up for what I believe is right.