The Hewitt Times

Malala Yousufzai, a fourteen-year old teen blogger, hopped on her usual school van on October 9th with two other girls; little did she know she would be shot in the neck on that day for raising her voice. Malala resides in Pakistan where the Taliban is active and merciless in the restrictions its members put on female education.

Malala first became vocal in her demands for the educational rights of girls in Swat Valley, Pakistan at the age of eleven. One night in 2008, as Pakistanis tuned into their radios to hear of the latest Taliban news, many heard that schools would be closed for females but remain open for males. To reinforce this demand, the Taliban bombed many female institutions. In addition, signs were put up telling women that they weren’t allowed to shop in markets. When someone didn’t adhere to the new rules, he or she could be whipped, beheaded, or even brutally killed in front of other Pakistani citizens – used as an example.

The Taliban overpowers the weak Pakistani government and is bringing the country to an even more chaotic future. Malala argues that, “if you have educated people, the Taliban will not come, but if you do not have educated people, they will come.”

As females living in the United States where we are required to go to school, the Taliban limitations on intellectual freedom come as quite a shock to us Hewitt students. Going to an independent school in New York City, we are all exposed to successful and well-educated women breaking barriers, and we are expected to do the same in the present as well as in the future. Hewitt brought in numerous high-power, female speakers in recent years to speak to the student body.

Hewitt Guest Speakers Inform our Response to this Crime

Kerry Kennedy, long a human rights activist and director of the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights, spoke to us about using our education to raise awareness of violations against human rights worldwide. She encouraged us to start our activism now and not tomorrow.  Amy Klobuchar, the senior United States senator for Minnesota, spoke about the importance of female representation in government, noting that although women make up 50% of the adult population, only 17 of 100 senators currently serving are women.  Only a century ago, American women did not have the right to vote in all parts of this country.

As part of the 8th grade inspiration project, Aerin Lauder, granddaughter of Estee Lauder and founder of the successful cosmetics line Aerin by Aerin Lauder, came to Hewitt to discuss marketing and advertising at her company as well as for Estee Lauder. Following Lauder’s visit was another woman highly involved in the fashion world, Connie-Anne Phillips. Phillips is the publisher of the successful InStyle magazine.

One thing that all these women have in common is that their journeys to their respective authoritative positions were not easy ones. Each woman had to raise her voice and stand against gender obstructions to propel herself to where she wanted to be, whether in business, politics, or activism.

In an effort to make known the many human rights violations to Pakistani citizens by the Taliban, Malala began writing a blog at the age of eleven. Malala’s blog was basically a diary of what happened to her on that day. Abdul Hai Kakar, a former Urdu service reporter, was responsible for bringing Malala’s message out to the world. Kakar would talk to Malala for thirty minutes for five or seven days in a row while taking notes and writing Malala’s ideas down. Then, he would send the writing to BBC Urdu and English to publish. Kakar said of Malala, “she shook the entire country and [only] now the people are debating and talking about how to fix the Taliban, army, and jihadist mindset and the militants.”

“How can girls stand up and raise their voices if they are literally shot down?” Becky Aydin ’14 asked in an interview. It is necessary to be persistent and firm. It was (and still is) not easy for women in the United States to gain some important rights, such as the right to vote; yet, there were a lot of women fighting for the same cause. This is the greatest difference between the American women’s fight for equality and the Pakistani fight;  Malala is one of the few who have dared to speak up. Many are afraid to lose their lives, but Malala has argued, “When your people need you, you should stand up for their rights.” For her fearlessness and drive, Malala is the first recipient of the Pakistani National Peace Prize.

Women’s Equality Starts with Education

Today in America, women make 77 cents to every dollar a man makes. According to the Center for American Progress, this  gap amounts to $430,000 lost wages over the course of a woman’s career. I asked ten women arbitrarily chosen on Park Avenue if they knew of this wage difference, and, it turns out, that six out of ten did not know. One woman said she knew there was a difference, but she thought that a woman makes 95 cents to every dollar a man makes. This makes one think, are most Pakistani girls aware that they’ve lost their education? Maybe their mothers never went to school, and now their families will not send their daughters to school. These young women may not know what getting a a proper, full education truly is; how can these girls be expected to fight for something they haven’t witnessed the impact of in their own lives?

Hewitt partook in an “International Day of the Girl” pep rally on October 16 in honor of Malala and to celebrate girls worldwide through an organization called Girl Up.

We learned about girls who are experiencing  similar situations regarding their education and value in society as the girls of Pakistan. “This exercise definitely rose awareness among the Hewitt community and [showed us] that we can help,” remarked Samantha Hott ’16.

As Malcolm X said, “to educate a man is to educate an individual, but to educate a woman is to educate a nation.” The Taliban wants to keep the power it holds over women in Pakistan. When a woman is educated and finds a cause she is passionate about, she can fight for it; this endless pursuit cannot be constrained by bombs and threats, if only a woman is willing to first fight for her right to an education.