0:00:01.228,0:00:05.262
In many patriarchal societies and tribal societies,

0:00:05.262,0:00:10.487
fathers are usually known by their sons,

0:00:10.487,0:00:13.703
but I'm one of the few fathers

0:00:13.703,0:00:15.747
who is known by his daughter,

0:00:15.747,0:00:17.373
and I am proud of it.

0:00:17.373,0:00:21.542
(Applause)

0:00:23.810,0:00:26.658
Malala started her campaign for education

0:00:26.658,0:00:29.545
and stood for her rights in 2007,

0:00:29.545,0:00:34.103
and when her efforts were honored in 2011,

0:00:34.103,0:00:37.543
and she was given the national youth peace prize,

0:00:37.543,0:00:39.412
and she became a very famous,

0:00:39.412,0:00:43.456
very popular young girl of her country.

0:00:43.456,0:00:46.784
Before that, she was my daughter,

0:00:46.784,0:00:49.789
but now I am her father.

0:00:50.741,0:00:52.496
Ladies and gentlemen,

0:00:52.496,0:00:55.643
if we glance to human history,

0:00:55.643,0:00:58.471
the story of women

0:00:58.471,0:01:01.847
is the story of injustice,

0:01:01.847,0:01:03.907
inequality,

0:01:03.907,0:01:09.218
violence and exploitation.

0:01:09.218,0:01:11.053
You see,

0:01:11.053,0:01:15.204
in patriarchal societies,

0:01:15.204,0:01:17.646
right from the very beginning,

0:01:17.646,0:01:20.652
when a girl is born,

0:01:20.652,0:01:24.932
her birth is not celebrated.

0:01:24.932,0:01:27.096
She is not welcomed,

0:01:27.096,0:01:29.872
neither by father nor by mother.

0:01:29.872,0:01:31.557
The neighborhood comes

0:01:31.557,0:01:34.058
and commiserates with the mother,

0:01:34.058,0:01:39.152
and nobody congratulates the father.

0:01:39.152,0:01:43.467
And a mother is very uncomfortable

0:01:43.467,0:01:47.834
for having a girl child.

0:01:47.834,0:01:51.094
When she gives birth to the first girl child,

0:01:51.094,0:01:55.183
first daughter, she is sad.

0:01:55.183,0:01:58.930
When she gives birth to the second daughter,

0:01:58.930,0:02:00.777
she is shocked,

0:02:00.777,0:02:04.161
and in the expectation of a son,

0:02:04.161,0:02:07.367
when she gives birth to a third daughter,

0:02:07.367,0:02:12.906
she feels guilty like a criminal.

0:02:12.906,0:02:15.540
Not only the mother suffers,

0:02:15.540,0:02:18.277
but the daughter, the newly born daughter,

0:02:18.277,0:02:20.412
when she grows old,

0:02:20.412,0:02:22.547
she suffers too.

0:02:22.547,0:02:24.600
At the age of five,

0:02:24.600,0:02:27.929
while she should be going to school,

0:02:27.929,0:02:29.672
she stays at home

0:02:29.672,0:02:34.294
and her brothers are admitted in a school.

0:02:34.294,0:02:36.887
Until the age of 12, somehow,

0:02:36.887,0:02:39.528
she has a good life.

0:02:39.528,0:02:41.199
She can have fun.

0:02:41.199,0:02:44.388
She can play with her friends in the streets,

0:02:44.388,0:02:46.427
and she can move around in the streets

0:02:46.427,0:02:49.202
like a butterfly.

0:02:49.202,0:02:53.017
But when she enters her teens,

0:02:53.017,0:02:55.357
when she becomes 13 years old,

0:02:55.357,0:02:58.976
she is forbidden to go out of her home

0:02:58.976,0:03:02.468
without a male escort.

0:03:02.468,0:03:07.843
She is confined under the four walls of her home.

0:03:07.843,0:03:13.037
She is no more a free individual.

0:03:13.037,0:03:16.057
She becomes the so-called honor

0:03:16.057,0:03:18.538
of her father and of her brothers

0:03:18.538,0:03:21.988
and of her family,

0:03:21.988,0:03:24.676
and if she transgresses

0:03:24.676,0:03:27.887
the code of that so-called honor,

0:03:27.887,0:03:32.251
she could even be killed.

0:03:32.251,0:03:36.252
And it is also interesting that this so-called

0:03:36.252,0:03:37.615
code of honor,

0:03:37.615,0:03:41.305
it does not only affect the life of a girl,

0:03:41.305,0:03:43.431
it also affects the life

0:03:43.431,0:03:48.230
of the male members of the family.

0:03:48.230,0:03:54.823
I know a family of seven sisters and one brother,

0:03:54.823,0:03:56.645
and that one brother,

0:03:56.645,0:04:00.149
he has migrated to the Gulf countries,

0:04:00.149,0:04:02.844
to earn a living for his seven sisters

0:04:02.844,0:04:05.192
and parents,

0:04:05.192,0:04:11.046
because he thinks that it will be humiliating

0:04:11.046,0:04:13.768
if his seven sisters learn a skill

0:04:13.768,0:04:16.148
and they go out of the home

0:04:16.148,0:04:20.299
and earn some livelihood.

0:04:20.299,0:04:21.889
So this brother,

0:04:21.889,0:04:25.242
he sacrifices the joys of his life

0:04:25.242,0:04:28.634
and the happiness of his sisters

0:04:28.634,0:04:33.218
at the altar of so-called honor.

0:04:33.218,0:04:34.752
And there is one more norm

0:04:34.752,0:04:37.110
of the patriarchal societies

0:04:37.110,0:04:41.560
that is called obedience.

0:04:41.560,0:04:45.346
A good girl is supposed to be

0:04:45.346,0:04:50.594
very quiet, very humble

0:04:50.594,0:04:54.565
and very submissive.

0:04:54.565,0:04:55.904
It is the criteria.

0:04:55.904,0:04:59.736
The role model good girl should be very quiet.

0:04:59.736,0:05:02.025
She is supposed to be silent

0:05:02.025,0:05:05.196
and she is supposed to accept the decisions

0:05:05.196,0:05:07.416
of her father and mother

0:05:07.416,0:05:10.641
and the decisions of elders,

0:05:10.641,0:05:13.047
even if she does not like them.

0:05:13.047,0:05:16.376
If she is married to a man she doesn't like

0:05:16.376,0:05:19.118
or if she is married to an old man,

0:05:19.118,0:05:20.678
she has to accept,

0:05:20.678,0:05:23.196
because she does not want to be dubbed

0:05:23.196,0:05:25.819
as disobedient.

0:05:25.819,0:05:27.451
If she is married very early,

0:05:27.451,0:05:28.925
she has to accept.

0:05:28.925,0:05:32.947
Otherwise, she will be called disobedient.

0:05:32.947,0:05:35.750
And what happens at the end?

0:05:35.750,0:05:37.505
In the words of a poetess,

0:05:37.505,0:05:40.292
she is wedded, bedded,

0:05:40.292,0:05:45.463
and then she gives birth[br]to more sons and daughters.

0:05:45.463,0:05:48.232
And it is the irony of the situation

0:05:48.232,0:05:50.564
that this mother,

0:05:50.564,0:05:53.616
she teaches the same lesson of obedience

0:05:53.616,0:05:54.676
to her daughter

0:05:54.676,0:05:59.109
and the same lesson of honor to her sons.

0:05:59.109,0:06:04.222
And this vicious cycle goes on, goes on.

0:06:05.997,0:06:08.524
Ladies and gentlemen,

0:06:08.524,0:06:11.746
this plight of millions of women

0:06:11.746,0:06:14.578
could be changed

0:06:14.578,0:06:16.953
if we think differently,

0:06:16.953,0:06:20.934
if women and men think differently,

0:06:20.934,0:06:25.152
if men and women in the[br]tribal and patriarchal societies

0:06:25.152,0:06:27.135
in the developing countries,

0:06:27.135,0:06:30.046
if they can break a few norms

0:06:30.046,0:06:34.650
of family and society,

0:06:34.650,0:06:40.130
if they can abolish the discriminatory laws

0:06:40.130,0:06:42.658
of the systems in their states,

0:06:42.658,0:06:44.949
which go against the basic human rights

0:06:44.949,0:06:48.743
of the women.

0:06:48.743,0:06:53.987
Dear brothers and sisters, when Malala was born,

0:06:53.987,0:06:56.140
and for the first time,

0:06:56.140,0:06:57.414
believe me,

0:06:57.414,0:07:02.391
I don't like newborn children, to be honest,

0:07:02.391,0:07:06.173
but when I went and I looked into her eyes,

0:07:06.173,0:07:08.293
believe me,

0:07:08.293,0:07:12.274
I got extremely honored.

0:07:12.274,0:07:14.444
And long before she was born,

0:07:14.444,0:07:17.480
I thought about her name,

0:07:17.480,0:07:20.765
and I was fascinated with a heroic

0:07:20.765,0:07:24.630
legendary freedom fighter in Afghanistan.

0:07:24.630,0:07:29.639
Her name was Malalai of Maiwand,

0:07:29.639,0:07:33.924
and I named my daughter after her.

0:07:33.924,0:07:36.916
A few days after Malala was born,

0:07:36.916,0:07:38.655
my daughter was born,

0:07:38.655,0:07:40.313
my cousin came --

0:07:40.313,0:07:42.281
and it was a coincidence --

0:07:42.281,0:07:44.996
he came to my home

0:07:44.996,0:07:47.701
and he brought a family tree,

0:07:47.701,0:07:51.369
a family tree of the Yousafzai family,

0:07:51.369,0:07:53.925
and when I looked at the family tree,

0:07:53.925,0:07:59.978
it traced back to 300 years of our ancestors.

0:07:59.978,0:08:04.375
But when I looked, all were men,

0:08:04.375,0:08:06.797
and I picked my pen,

0:08:06.797,0:08:08.801
drew a line from my name,

0:08:08.801,0:08:12.500
and wrote, "Malala."

0:08:13.585,0:08:16.355
And when she grow old,

0:08:16.355,0:08:19.938
when she was four and a half years old,

0:08:19.938,0:08:23.474
I admitted her in my school.

0:08:23.474,0:08:26.380
You will be asking, then, why should I mention about

0:08:26.380,0:08:28.882
the admission of a girl in a school?

0:08:28.882,0:08:30.937
Yes, I must mention it.

0:08:30.937,0:08:34.022
It may be taken for granted in Canada,

0:08:34.022,0:08:37.849
in America, in many developed countries,

0:08:37.849,0:08:40.307
but in poor countries,

0:08:40.307,0:08:43.875
in patriarchal societies, in tribal societies,

0:08:43.875,0:08:47.489
it's a big event for the life of girl.

0:08:47.489,0:08:51.128
Enrollment in a school means

0:08:51.128,0:08:56.877
recognition of her identity and her name.

0:08:56.877,0:08:58.555
Admission in a school means

0:08:58.555,0:09:02.237
that she has entered the world of dreams

0:09:02.237,0:09:03.900
and aspirations

0:09:03.900,0:09:07.412
where she can explore her potentials

0:09:07.412,0:09:10.658
for her future life.

0:09:10.658,0:09:12.737
I have five sisters,

0:09:12.737,0:09:16.051
and none of them could go to school,

0:09:16.051,0:09:17.625
and you will be astonished,

0:09:17.625,0:09:21.719
two weeks before,

0:09:21.735,0:09:26.018
when I was filling out the Canadian visa form,

0:09:26.018,0:09:30.683
and I was filling out the family part of the form,

0:09:30.683,0:09:32.767
I could not recall

0:09:32.767,0:09:36.772
the surnames of some of my sisters.

0:09:36.772,0:09:38.621
And the reason was

0:09:38.621,0:09:41.913
that I have never, never seen the names

0:09:41.913,0:09:47.739
of my sisters written on any document.

0:09:47.739,0:09:50.679
That was the reason that

0:09:50.679,0:09:54.212
I valued my daughter.

0:09:54.212,0:09:58.525
What my father could not give to my sisters

0:09:58.525,0:10:00.280
and to his daughters,

0:10:00.280,0:10:04.521
I thought I must change it.

0:10:04.521,0:10:07.528
I used to appreciate the intelligence

0:10:07.528,0:10:11.200
and the brilliance of my daughter.

0:10:11.200,0:10:13.794
I encouraged her to sit with me

0:10:13.794,0:10:15.453
when my friends used to come.

0:10:15.453,0:10:20.237
I encouraged her to go with[br]me to different meetings.

0:10:20.237,0:10:21.898
And all these good values,

0:10:21.898,0:10:25.108
I tried to inculcate in her personality.

0:10:25.108,0:10:28.771
And this was not only she, only Malala.

0:10:28.771,0:10:31.507
I imparted all these good values

0:10:31.507,0:10:36.050
to my school, girl students [br]and boy students as well.

0:10:36.050,0:10:40.429
I used education for emancipation.

0:10:40.429,0:10:42.294
I taught my girls,

0:10:42.294,0:10:44.249
I taught my girl students,

0:10:44.249,0:10:49.318
to unlearn the lesson of obedience.

0:10:49.318,0:10:52.283
I taught my boy students

0:10:52.283,0:10:57.764
to unlearn the lesson of so-called pseudo-honor.

0:11:01.696,0:11:05.681
Dear brothers and sisters,

0:11:05.681,0:11:10.264
we were striving for more rights for women,

0:11:10.264,0:11:13.886
and we were struggling to have more,

0:11:13.886,0:11:18.113
more and more space for the women in society.

0:11:18.113,0:11:21.326
But we came across a new phenomenon.

0:11:21.326,0:11:23.819
It was lethal to human rights

0:11:23.819,0:11:27.267
and particularly to women's rights.

0:11:27.267,0:11:31.944
It was called Talibanization.

0:11:31.944,0:11:35.632
It means a complete negation

0:11:35.632,0:11:37.842
of women's participation

0:11:37.842,0:11:44.037
in all political, economical and social activities.

0:11:44.037,0:11:47.584
Hundreds of schools were lost.

0:11:47.584,0:11:53.815
Girls were prohibited from going to school.

0:11:53.815,0:11:57.521
Women were forced to wear veils

0:11:57.521,0:12:01.077
and they were stopped from going to the markets.

0:12:01.077,0:12:03.661
Musicians were silenced,

0:12:03.661,0:12:05.618
girls were flogged

0:12:05.618,0:12:09.101
and singers were killed.

0:12:09.101,0:12:10.975
Millions were suffering,

0:12:10.975,0:12:14.220
but few spoke,

0:12:14.220,0:12:16.444
and it was the most scary thing

0:12:16.444,0:12:22.530
when you have all around such people

0:12:22.530,0:12:24.556
who kill and who flog,

0:12:24.556,0:12:25.852
and you speak for your rights.

0:12:25.852,0:12:30.059
It's really the most scary thing.

0:12:30.059,0:12:31.952
At the age of 10,

0:12:31.952,0:12:36.196
Malala stood, and she stood for the right

0:12:36.196,0:12:38.507
of education.

0:12:38.507,0:12:43.279
She wrote a diary for the BBC blog,

0:12:43.279,0:12:45.483
she volunteered herself

0:12:45.483,0:12:49.077
for the New York Times documentaries,

0:12:49.077,0:12:53.993
and she spoke from every platform she could.

0:12:53.993,0:12:58.381
And her voice was the most powerful voice.

0:12:58.381,0:13:04.634
It spread like a crescendo all around the world.

0:13:04.634,0:13:06.486
And that was the reason the Taliban

0:13:06.486,0:13:10.817
could not tolerate her campaign,

0:13:10.817,0:13:13.666
and on October 9 2012,

0:13:13.666,0:13:19.415
she was shot in the head at point blank range.

0:13:19.415,0:13:23.560
It was a doomsday for my family and for me.

0:13:23.560,0:13:29.379
The world turned into a big black hole.

0:13:29.379,0:13:31.045
While my daughter was

0:13:31.045,0:13:34.497
on the verge of life and death,

0:13:34.497,0:13:38.336
I whispered into the ears of my wife,

0:13:38.336,0:13:41.438
"Should I be blamed for what happened

0:13:41.438,0:13:45.114
to my daughter and your daughter?"

0:13:45.114,0:13:47.635
And she abruptly told me,

0:13:47.635,0:13:50.146
"Please don't blame yourself.

0:13:50.146,0:13:53.362
You stood for the right cause.

0:13:53.362,0:13:55.497
You put your life at stake

0:13:55.497,0:13:56.900
for the cause of truth,

0:13:56.900,0:13:58.081
for the cause of peace,

0:13:58.081,0:14:00.189
and for the cause of education,

0:14:00.189,0:14:02.238
and your daughter in inspired from you

0:14:02.238,0:14:04.469
and she joined you.

0:14:04.469,0:14:06.144
You both were on the right path

0:14:06.144,0:14:09.517
and God will protect her."

0:14:09.517,0:14:12.863
These few words meant a lot to me,

0:14:12.863,0:14:16.974
and I didn't ask this question again.

0:14:16.974,0:14:21.094
When Malala was in the hospital,

0:14:21.094,0:14:24.341
and she was going through the severe pains

0:14:24.341,0:14:26.861
and she had had severe headaches

0:14:26.861,0:14:30.049
because her facial nerve was cut down,

0:14:30.049,0:14:32.501
I used to see a dark shadow

0:14:32.501,0:14:38.038
spreading on the face of my wife.

0:14:38.038,0:14:44.139
But my daughter never complained.

0:14:44.139,0:14:46.200
She used to tell us,

0:14:46.200,0:14:48.251
"I'm fine with my crooked smile

0:14:48.251,0:14:50.993
and with my numbness in my face.

0:14:50.993,0:14:53.072
I'll be okay. Please don't worry."

0:14:53.072,0:14:55.201
She was a solace for us,

0:14:55.201,0:14:58.098
and she consoled us.

0:15:00.120,0:15:04.341
Dear brothers and sisters,

0:15:04.341,0:15:06.963
we learned from her how to be resilient

0:15:06.963,0:15:10.268
in the most difficult times,

0:15:10.268,0:15:13.276
and I'm glad to share with you

0:15:13.276,0:15:19.168
that despite being an icon

0:15:19.168,0:15:21.997
for the rights of children and women,

0:15:21.997,0:15:27.290
she is like any 16-year old girl.

0:15:27.290,0:15:32.422
She cries when her homework is incomplete.

0:15:32.422,0:15:34.490
She quarrels with her brothers,

0:15:34.490,0:15:38.213
and I am very happy for that.

0:15:38.213,0:15:40.616
People ask me,

0:15:40.616,0:15:44.108
what special is in my mentorship

0:15:44.108,0:15:46.648
which has made Malala so bold

0:15:46.648,0:15:51.140
and so courageous and so vocal and poised?

0:15:51.140,0:15:57.415
I tell them, don't ask me what I did.

0:15:57.415,0:16:01.276
Ask me what I did not do.

0:16:01.276,0:16:06.533
I did not clip her wings, and that's all.

0:16:06.533,0:16:09.415
Thank you very much.

0:16:09.415,0:16:14.911
(Applause)

0:16:14.911,0:16:18.911
Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. (Applause)