What: Launch event for “I Am Malala: A Resource Guide for Educators”
Where: Jack Morton Auditorium
When: 3 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 13
Tickets: The free event is open to GW students, faculty and staff, but seating is limited. Interested attendees should RSVP here.
Ziauddin Yousafzai, the father of 17-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai, will speak at the George Washington University on Thursday during a free event hosted by GW’s Global Women’s Institute (GWI).
The event will mark the official launch of the institute’s online resource guide for college and university classrooms, which accompanies the 2013 memoir “I Am Malala.” The book chronicles Malala’s efforts to promote girls’ education.
An advocate for women’s rights, the Pakistani teenager was shot by the Taliban in 2012 when she was traveling home from school. She survived and became a global symbol of peaceful protest.
GW faculty, in partnership with the Malala Fund and publisher Little, Brown and Company, developed the free resource guide as a tool to deepen students’ understanding of women’s rights issues and to inspire them to become activists themselves.
“This resource guide embodies what Malala stands for: access to education,” said GWI Director Mary Ellsberg. “Our hope is that the guide proves to be more than a semester-long agenda for teachers and students. We want this to be a tool for the next generation of global citizens.”
The guide focuses on various themes such as the importance of a woman’s voice, how education empowers women, global feminism and political extremism. It offers suggestions for group and individual assignments and activities and will include a companion website with multimedia elements. The free resources will be available online Thursday.
Mr. Yousafzai, who provides a preface to the resource guide, will speak on Thursday about girls’ access to education around the world. Malala’s father has spoken openly about how men and women deserve equal opportunities for education and independent identities. As a school owner and father, he encouraged his students and daughter to think critically and to stand up for basic human rights.
Thursday’s event also will feature U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues Catherine Russell as well as a panel discussion with the faculty who designed the “I Am Malala” resource guide.
