That would be the message to the women of one province in Pakistan, where a book launch was planned to introduce them to the heroics of one of their own:
A launch ceremony for education activist Malala Yousafzai’s book at a university in her native Pakistan was cancelled after pressure from the provincial government, organisers and officials said on Tuesday. Malala, now 16, survived a Taliban assassination attempt in the country’s restive northwest in 2012 and has become a global champion for the struggle for all children to go to school.
An event to launch her memoir I am Malala at the Area Study Centre of Peshawar University on Monday was called off after police refused to provide security, organisers told AFP. She had not been due to attend in person.
So the message of making education more accessible for girls is not welcome, and the UN doesn't seem to care. Nor have we heard much from feminists concerning the issue:
While it has had a positive reception around the world, reaction to the book inside Pakistan has been mixed. Some private schools banned it from their premises in November due to what they called its “anti-Pakistan and anti-Islam content”.
A senior police official said allowing the ceremony to go ahead would have meant attracting Taliban attacks in future. “Everyone knows that Taliban are against Malala, so we do not want to open another front for ourselves,” the official said, requesting anonymity.
I think the "anti-Islam" charge would be a natural outgrowth of the argument for women's fundamental dignity, no? If The Taliban is enforcing shari'a law, and the Taliban doesn't want girls educated, then by the transitive property Malala's desire to educate girls would be ... anti-Islamic. We don't make that connection, the local residents do.
Not only is there no desire for basic education, but there is a fear of immunisations, which has resulted in the deaths of dozens of polio teams who are trying to stem an epidemic there. The impact on women is two-fold: they cannot go to school and they cannot help their children to thrive.
Where is the war on women, again?
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