Vivien Doucette
11th Honors Humanities
Ashley Carruth
The Malala Fund Analyzation Based on Half the Sky Criteria
Half the Sky is a non-fiction book addressing gender equality issues and discrimination on
females, through sex trafficking, honor killings and rape. The countries often experiencing basic
violations of women's right, and most heavily mentioned in this book are India, Nepal, Pakistan, China, a
whole host of African countries and countless others. The book also mentions the role gender plays in the
Islamic religion, and how Americans can help improve the lives of women in a non-aggressive manner.
Women are thought has the key to a strong world economy and a key to worldwide health and sustainable
population. We are given personal stories of real life women and their families atrocious experiences
with gender inequality. The book stressed the importance of education and support in the lives of these
women and girls, while calling us to action.
The Malala Fund is an organization based in four countries, Pakistan, Nigeria, Kenya and Sierra
Leone, as well as in Lebanon and Jordan in order to address the education of Syrian refugees. The fund,
named after Malala Yousafzai, focuses on bringing more girls to school in these countries, empowering
people to voice support for a change in education priority, raising voices of those who do support it and
investment in the girls and their education. The Malala Fund was founded by Vital Voices and Malala
Yousafzai after a failed assassination attempt on Malala when she and friends were heading to school.
Malala stresses the importance of education in both her life and her fellow Pakistani peers in her
autobiography I Am Malala how she believes that the best way to improve the lives of underprivileged
women is through education.
The issue is imminent. Innocent women and girls are dying due to gender inequality. Everyday a
innocent child is raped, an unsuspecting woman is trafficked and a girl is killed. There is no ignoring this
problem. To do so is unethical and inhumane. It has become a matter of how we can help and create a
better world. Mr. Kristof and Ms. WuDunn state in their book just one way that American can help.
Through extensive research the have determined a successful way of empowering women and improving
lives is through microfinance. Microfinance is the method of helping low income people get themselves
out of poverty by providing banking services that would not usually be accessible. This method of human
services causes not only the women to gain skills to improve their lives, but also empowers them and
proves that women are just as capable of creating successful lives. The Malala Fund does not fully finance
women, but their mission of creating education for women and girls can be considered an investment.
Countless times it has been proven that education improves lives. The Malala Fund does not invest in
girls through money, but through education. The authors of this book may not agree, but I see a
connection. Education and microfinance address the same issue using the same idea, investment, but in
different ways. No, The Malala Fund does not address the economic power of women and its benefit
through money, but is still invests in them. The ideal criteria is not meet in this category, but I feel that
this can actually coincide if looked at in the terms of investment for better lives.
One of the most poignant stories told in this book was a personal experience of Mr. Kristof.
While interviewing a guard on the border of Nepal and India, he was told that the transportation of pirated
DVD movies and counterfeit money were some of the highest priorities, along with terrorists and
supplies. When Mr. Kristof questioned the guard about trafficked girls and their importance compared to
pirated DVDs the guard replied, Prostitution is inevitable. The guard and Mr. Kristof continue their
discussion and when asked if prostitution is the solution to the demand for sex the guard stated These
girls are sacrificed so we can have harmony in society. So that good girls can be safe, Angered with this
explanation Mr. Kristof retorted, stating that these are good girl who are being trafficked. The guard
replied oh yes, but those are peasant girls. They cant even read. Theyre from the countryside. The good
Indian middle class girls are safe. This mans opinions clearly state one of the roots of the trafficking
problem in Nepal and India. Class hierarchy. Women and girls of a higher class are protected, considered
better or good when compared with the peasant girls. The value of her life is based in what state her
familys finances are in. Many of these women have little to no say in what financially happens in the
family. Human value is arbitrarily placed on her head. Despite the facts that these girls are all human, all
bleed red and cry tears; they are not held at the same level. This is disgusting. This book fights for
equality because humans are humans. Your economical status, religion, race and especially your gender
does not determine your worth as a human. Mr. Kristof and Ms. WuDunn call for an elimination of these
ideas. Elimination of these ideas is key to reducing human trafficking. When The Malala Fund calls for all
girls to have twelve years of education, they help address this problem. Economic equality is another
monster that has yet to be tackled, but when you put these girls in school they begin to gain even footing
with the rest of the world. The education that The Malala Fund helps provide these women help demolish
these classist ideas. Education empowers women to stand up for their needs; it creates humans with
consciousness, morals and a passionate want for a better life. It is vital to the equality movements around
the world that all humans are treated with the same respect and dignity that comes with having a
conscious, a beating heart and a moving mind. We need to educate people, give them the same starting
block to build their lives. I feel that The Malala Fund and its founders understand this too, and are
creating an organization that also wants to break down sexist and classist barriers, and considering
education just like Half the Sky.
The Malala Funds mission is simple. Support all girls in receiving 12 years of quality education
and empower girls to create a better world. I strongly feel that the Malala Fund is an organization that the
Half the Sky movement would support. I am sure that an organization so dedicated to improving lives of
women across the world would support Malala and her journey. Half the Sky wants to improve lives, so
why not invest both economically and educationally in girls.
