Women need to know their rights to eliminate violence: Malala

NEW YORK: In order to eliminate violence against women and girls, an initiative Spotlight has been launched by the European Union and the United Nations.

Speaking about her relationship with her father Ziauddin Yousafzai, world’s youngest Nobel laureate, Malala Yousafzai not only shared stories about her father’s support for her but also stressed the need to create awareness among women regarding their rights.

Secretary-General UN, Antonio Guterres, who has been very vocal about gender equality, opened the session held on Wednesday at the Trusteeship Council Chamber of the UN Headquarters.

Phumzile Miambo-Ngcuka, UN Under-Secretary-General and the Executive Director of UN Women stated that violence against women existed on all levels of society and was not confined to a particular group and rather gender inequality was universal and surpassed class and religion.

Moderated by UNDP Goodwill Ambassador, Danish actor Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, known for popular TV series Game of Thrones, the session titled as ‘Conversation between father and daughter’ saw Malala narrate her experiences with the help from her father.

“When I was born, my father’s cousin took out our family tree dating back to hundreds of years which only had room for men’s names but he took out a pen and added my name to it, thus I became the first girl to be mentioned there,” she began.

Malala added that her story wasn’t a striking one save one aspect“There’s nothing special in my story with regards to talent rather the only difference is that my father didn’t stop me from pursuing education when Taliban rose, and there were many other girls like me who wanted to speak out but they were held back,” she said.

She added that the endless support from her father brought her to the point where she stood now.“I had this dream, and even before Malala was born I wanted to name her after Afghan hero Malalay who was known for herself because in patriarchal societies, women are known by their association with men. When Malala was born, I wanted her to acquire quality education, and I wanted her to have an identity for herself,” Yousafzai said.

Speaking about Malala’s encounter with Taliban when she was shot by one of the men, Yousafzai said that their efforts went in vain: “They wanted to silence her on local level but now it’s global. The best answer to violence is non-violence but that doesn’t mean one should stay silent and submit rather non-violence means, an even louder voice.”

Answering a question regarding areas that need attention regarding gender-based violence Malala said that education was very important because many girls didn’t even
 know about their rights. She added that educating women doesn’t only help them rather it helps the entire community. She added that many women didn’t even understand that the violence done to them was unjust because they have been conditioned that wat and awareness can help through that. 

“It’s very difficult to change men especially in patriarchal societies but men are the answer and they have to come forward. We need to work on education and more importantly and we need to have quality curriculum, and I feel we need to have a UN commission on curriculum,” he pointed out.

“They should ensure that young generation should learn harmony and equality and only through gender equality can we counter violence,” he added.He narrated that his wife wasn’t educated but she had the freedom to move around and it created ease for him because she helped him in my work by taking children to various places.

“Men have put these social barriers and taboos not only to hamper the progress of women rather themselves as well. We are yet to see a nation which has moved forward by ignoring half of their population,” he stressed.

Malala had also met with the Prime Minister, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and shared her views about education in the country especially for women and girls. Abbasi lauded her commitment and assured full support in expansion of education at all levels.