In chapter 2 of I Am Malala, what differences are noted in the treatment of girls and boys?

Chapters 1 and 2 both point out to readers that boys and girls are treated much differently from each other. Chapter 1 begins by telling readers that people commiserated with Malala's mother because she gave birth to a daughter. Sons are celebrated and daughters are "hidden away behind a curtain." Chapter 2 continues informing readers about the vast differences in how boys and girls are treated. We find out that girls have to stay at home while boys get to go to school. Diets are also different between the sexes. Girls are not given cream or milk in the mornings. Instead, they are given tea with no milk. Eggs are given to the boys, and the best cuts of chicken are given to the men and boys as well.

When a chicken was slaughtered for dinner, the girls would get the wings and the neck while the luscious breast meat was enjoyed by my father, his brother and my grandfather.

Women are also not allowed to open a bank account unless a man permits it, and women are more often than not forbidden from participating in sports.

In I Am Malala, how are the births of girls and boys treated differently in Pakistan?

Among the Pashtuns, the ethnic group into which Malala is born, there's a huge difference between how people regard the birth of a boy and the birth of a girl. As Malala tells us, rifles are fired in celebration of a son, whereas daughters are hidden away behind a curtain in preparation for a life of domestic servitude.

For most Pashtuns—though thankfully not Malala's parents—the birth of a daughter is a gloomy day indeed. Although Malala doesn't specify why this is, it's almost certainly because girls are expected to bring a dowry—a substantial sum of money or property—with them when they get married, and this can cause her family a lot of hardship.

In any case, Malala's family doesn't observe the Pashtun tradition. They are overjoyed at her entry into the world. Her father's cousin, Sher Khan Yousafzai, comes over to the house to celebrate the newborn's birth and even gives a handsome gift of money.

He also brings with him the Yousafzai family tree, on which Malala's father, Ziauddin, writes her name. This is seen as quite an unusual gesture, but Ziauddin doesn't mind. As far as he's concerned, there's something different about this child. Just how different he will find out in due course.

How does life in the village differ for boys and girls in I Am Malala?

Most of Malala Yousafzai's memoir, I Am Malala, focuses on her determination to get an education despite the strict laws and threats of the Taliban. In Malala's native Pakistan and nearby countries like Afghanistan, once the Taliban took control, they imposed Sharia law, which forbid women from leaving the home without a male companion (husband, father, brother) or not in a burqa (which covered her completely except that she can see out through a panel in font of her eyes). Women were no longer allowed to attend school or hold jobs.

Earlier in Malala's childhood, before Taliban control, she attended school; in fact, her father ran a school. Both boys and girls attended. Later, though, the girls were withdrawn. At first, some left out of fear because it had become dangerous to be on the streets or in schools (they were bombed). Later, it became law that girls could not attend school. For a time, Malala does stay home, and when her brother returns to school, he "said he would rather stay home like [Malala]." Malala is upset because she would give anything to be able to go back to school, and later, she of course does risk her life when she is shot in the face for advocating and pursuing education for girls.