Submitted by Charles Knighton
Alfred Nobel would be proud. At least for this year the Norwegian Nobel Committee, by awarding the Prize for Peace to Malala Yousafzai and Kailash Satyarthi, has eschewed its recent proclivity for awards based on politics and/or ideology rather than for actual deeds and works. While not familiar with Mr. Satyarthi’s “Save the Childhood Movement”, I have been intrigued by Malala’s life since she was attacked in 2012, as well as by how easily we in the West tend to take for granted our own hard-won freedoms.
Our daughters are free to go to school, to think for themselves, to decide how they will spend their lives. Had they been born in rural Pakistan, in Saudi Arabia, or in large swaths of the world, they would have no such choices. Culture and religion would assign them “traditional” roles—that is, subservience to men. In Pakistan, then 15-year-old Malala dared to demand more. “I have the right to speak up,” she said. “I have the right of education. I have the right to sing.” For this crime, the Pakistani Taliban shot her twice in the head. But as she struggled for life in a hospital, she became an international hero—a change agent. Like Mandela, King and Gandhi, she exposed the ugliness of the thugs who wished to silence her.
I’d like to think Malala’s story would move me just as much if I were the father of a son instead of a daughter. But I feel a very personal fury that there are men on this planet who would murder girls for wanting to read, to think and to choose. That patriarchal backlash, unfortunately, isn’t limited to radical Islam. In certain churches and legislatures, less visibly medieval men share the Taliban’s alarm. In the 20th century, some men justified bigotry by claiming that God did not intend for the races to mix, or for blacks to stand equal to whites. Those justifications have now fallen into disrepute. In the 21st century, those who insist that God gave women a secondary and submissive role will find themselves in the same dustbin as the racists. In my daughter’s lifetime, women will serve as presidents and priests. Malala will win in the end. All I can do is wish her Godspeed on her journey.
The blogmaster invites you to join and add value to the discussion.