Today is “Malala Day,” named for girl activist Malala Yousafzai and marking her 16th birthday; it’s also the date of Malala’s address to the Secretary-General of the United Nations as part of a UN Youth Assembly on education. The assembly will bring together over 500 young people from around the world to call for expanded educational access for all – a party of sorts for the birthday girl as she celebrates a successful petition that garnered over 2 million responses demanding urgency in that fight.
We are proud to stand with Malala.
Girls Learn International, a project of the Feminist Majority Foundation, has been working to aid in Malala’s effort for broader education around the globe for 10 years – and today they’re honoring Malala as part of their 10th anniversary celebration, 30 Days of Sheroes:
Malala is a shero for standing up for the girls in her community who fear an education, but Malala Day is about more than her shero status – it’s about making sure she’s one of the last girls to face martyrdom to get an education.
A Feminist Majority Foundation employee visited Malala’s school earlier this year and observed that “every girl was Malala–very brave and outspoken.” Today, Malala represents every girl or boy fighting for their right to an education. We stand with her, and with them.
And we wish her a happy birthday!
You can follow the ongoing daily series and view previous sheroes at the GLI blog, and you can follow their live-tweets of Malala’s speech @GirlsLearnIntl, where 5 of their own girl activists will join in Malala’s presentation of her petition.
