Women should never listen to anyone who tells them how to dress: Malala

Nobel Peace Prize laureate and education activist Malala Yousafzai on Thursday said that women should never listen to anyone who tells them how to dress or how to act or walk or talk.

“It should not be the decision of anyone else to tell women how to dress, how to speak, how to act, how to walk or how to talk. As long it’s the women’s decision, as long as it’s her choice, it is okay. There is no standard that defines women to dress like this way or talk this way,” she said during a session of the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos.

Malala said that when one talks about feminism and women’s rights, one is  actually addressing men.

“Men have a big role to play … We have to teach young boys how to be men. In order to be a man you have to recognize that all women and all those around you have equal rights and that you are part of this movement for equality,” said the young activist.

Five years ago, Malala Yousafzai was shot in the head by the Taliban for defying the ban against girls going to school. Since then, she’s become the youngest person ever to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, written two books and earned a place to study at Oxford University.

 

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Feminism is just another world for equality

We need more men to think and act like her own father, she said.

“For me, my role model has always been my father. When we talk about feminism in men, he is the example that I give … He was challenging society, he was challenging norms and he was challenging taboos at each and every point in his life … He was a feminist who was taking action, and if he had not allowed me, I would not be here. There were many girls who wanted to speak out, but their parents stopped them.”

During the session, Malala was reminded that she had once said that feminism was a tricky word, and what has changed.

“I looked more into it and I realized that feminism is just another word for equality, and no one should object to equality … When you speak about women’s rights, you become a feminist, whether you embrace it or not.”

On the current campaigns for women’s rights such as #timesup or #Metoo, she said: “A movement is building up and women are realizing their voices are so important to the change that they want to see. I said long ago during a UN speech that first we wanted men to do something for us, but that time has gone now, we’re not going to ask men to change the world, we’re going to do it ourselves.”

“I can’t send all girls to school, that would be impossible,” Malala went on to say.

Educating girls is a collective responsibility, and we all must realize that we have a role to play, including world leaders. “I haven’t met a single prime minister who would not send their own children to school,” she said.

“All of them send their children to school, their children go to university, they do not need any explanation as to how important education is. But when it comes to the rest of the world’s children, they struggle a bit. So you have to keep on reminding them.”