Bettering Communities: Expecting Education and Malala Day 2012

by Amy Sullivan on November 9th, 2012 | No Comments »

Education for women—Tomorrow, November 10, 2012 is Malala Day. As you may know, Malala Yousafzai is the fourteen-year-old girl who was shot in the head for promoting girls' education in her country.

In the United States, girls' education is a given. Girls even have educational options: public school, private school, virtual school, and homeschool. However, the buffet of choices our daughters are given aren't choices for the 32 million girls shut out of classrooms in other parts of the world.

My daughter loves school. Maybe it's because of the teacher who belts out multiplication rap songs or maybe it's because my girl was chosen to be a square dancer in the Biking Through North Carolina History Performance (trust me, big deal), but whatever the reason, my girl thrives at school. My daughter's future is bigger because education births choices.

Tomorrow, we have an opportunity to better communities by bettering the lives of girls who live in places where the education of girls isn't valued (no traveling required!). We can unite our voices and show the world we believe every girl has the right to an education. Here's how:

Tell the world about Malala using #IamMalala or share her story on social media.
Sign this petition which asks Pakistan to deliver education to all of its children.
Discuss Malala at dinner.
Watch this video.
Talk to your girl about the value of education.
Visit this site.

Can you think of other ways we can celebrate Malala's courage?

Amy L. Sullivan. Word lover. Book devourer. Music addict. Amy is a Northern girl who found herself living in the South. She drinks sweet tea, turns her nose up at okra, and attempts to tell her daughters "yella" isn't a color. Amy writes for both online and print publications and is a member of the #globalteamof200.