Malala Yousafzai became known in 2009 when writing to the Urdu BBC the blog “Diary of a Pakistani girl” about the difficulties she faced in studying in the northwest region of Pakistan, where the Taliban banned girls from going to school and more than 60 % of women are illiterate.
Malala defended women’s access to formal education and openly criticized the Taliban, winning prizes and securing political improvements for the schools of the region. However, in 2012, she was hit in the head by a shot of an extremist Taliban while she walked for school.
She received medical treatment in the UK, where she currently lives with her family. For her efforts for a free and universal education for all, she is the youngest person nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize and the UN declared the date of her birthday, July 12, as the “Malala Day.”
