The Educational Divide: Lessons from Malala in Bridging the Gender Divide

I'm posting a series of activities in this blog that I hope to incorporate in my new EM202 The Educational Divide course.

One of the things I want to do is to look at large-scale efforts to address global educational issues. An example of such are the Millenium Development Goals. One of the MDGs is promoting gender equality and empowering women.You can read more by clicking here.

Although it's important to consider these large-scale efforts, I think it's hard for many of us to connect with them. In other words, what does striving for gender equality and empowering women look like "on the ground"?

I think the story of Malala Yousafzai, the co-recipient of the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize, provides a powerful example.

Here is a great background documentary from the NY Times on Malala:

The Making of Malala

After watching the video (you can also find a lot of resources on this website: http://www.malala.org; I also highly recommend her book I am Malala), reflect on how Malala is trying to support the ability of girls to attend school. What do you see as the key challenges in accomplishing this mission?