Malala was born in 1997 in Mingora, Pakistan. Pakistan was a very heavily patriarchal country at the time, especially as the Taliban kept playing an increasingly important role on the country's political stage. According to the Taliban, who have an extremely religious and conservative view of life, a woman's role should simply be to stay at home and look after her husband and family. Therefore, under Taliban rule, women and girls are not allowed to attend school in order to receive an education, as the Taliban deem this not only unnecessary, but even unsuitable for girls.

As a result, when the Taliban took control of Malala's village in the Swat Valley, Malala and the other girls were no longer allowed to go to school. However, inspired by her father, Malala had already developed a thirst for knowledge and a desire to learn more and develop further intellectually. This is why she refused to obey the Taliban's order for girls to stay at home.

Malala had a very clear understanding of fairness and equal rights, and she refused to accept that women were treated as unequal beings compared to men. Malala wanted the same rights and education a boy would have had. Being determined to live her life the way she wanted, she simply ignored the Taliban's rules. Instead, she continued to attend school. This greatly provoked the Taliban and eventually led to an assassination attempt on Malala on her way home from school.

As an adult, for the reasons explained above, Malala has kept fighting for women's rights to education.

What did Malala fight for?

I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban is a memoir written by Pakistani activist and youngest Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai with British journalist and author Christina Lamb. As the title suggests, the book centers on Malala and her loving parents, who encouraged her to learn to read and write despite prevailing views and beliefs and fought for their daughter's prosperity and happiness.

One day on her way home from school, Malala was shot by the Taliban, who had then forbidden all girls and women from attending schools or any other academic facilities. This prompted Malala, with the help of her father, Ziauddin, who was a teacher, to start fighting for human rights, gender equality, and free and safe education for all young girls and women in their home country.

Soon, her activism grew into an international movement, and Malala gained many supporters and people willing to help her cause. Malala founded the Malala Fund, which is a charity organization created with the purpose of giving every young girl the equal opportunity and right to have proper education, as well to have a successful and fulfilling future. In December 2014, at the age of seventeen, Malala was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, which made her the youngest recipient of the award ever.