Raising our Voices: On the 30th Anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women, Beijing, 1995

Abstract

I raise up my voice – not so that I can shout, but so that those without a voice can be heard … we cannot all succeed when half of us are held back. Malala Yousafzai, sixteenth birthday speech, United Nations, New York, 20131 Malala Yousafzai was born in the Taliban-occupied district of Swat in Pakistan in 1997, two years after the pivotal Fourth World Conference on Women. At that conference, Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto emphasized the power of women leaders in government, especially Muslim women. Nonetheless, in 2012, Malala and two other girls were shot on their way home from school by a Taliban gunman In 2014, Malala became co recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize along with Kailish Satyarthi of India. We have come so far, and yet not so far at all.