Discussion Guide

Case-Based Lessons on Violence Against Women

and Girls
2017

Case Study 2: “Malala Yousafzai: A Young Female Activist”

Overview
This discussion guide accompanies the teaching case, “Malala Yousafzai: A Young Female Activist.” The case
traces the story of Malala Yousafzai who has advocated passionately for girls’ right to education. In October
2012, a militant group with ties to the Taliban shot 14-year-old Yousafzai in the head as she was riding the
school bus home after a day of classes. Yousafzai recovered and became the youngest recipient of the Nobel
Peace Prize in 2014. This case explores the social factors that made such an attack possible and why there
continue to be such barriers to educational opportunities for girls. “Malala Yousafzai: A Young Female
Activist” is a part of a case series on violence against women that illustrate the critical role for leadership
through an examination of how factors within a society influence women’s health. Students analyze the
situations described by considering the circumstances that placed each protagonist in vulnerable positions.
Participants examine the commonalities and differences of these situations in an effort to understand the
circumstances that affect women’s well-being. Additionally, using the cases as a framework, students analyze
the connections between collective outrage, reactive action, and leadership. The other cases in this series are:
“India’s Daughter: The Rape that Galvanized a Nation” and “Steubenville, Ohio: A Community’s Reckoning of
Responsibility.”

Pedagogical Approach: Case Study Method

A case offers an informational narrative describing a real-life situation, with the goal of stimulating classroom
discussion. This creates an active learning opportunity, where students can apply critical thinking skills and
share professional experience to analyze complex, interdisciplinary scenarios. For students to maximize their
learning from the case, they must immerse themselves in a case prior to class, craft their own opinion about
the material, and participate actively in class discussion. During the class discussion, the instructor plays the
role of the moderator, facilitating the conversation so that it illuminates different aspects of the problem
described. Alternatively, instructors might divide the class into small groups, with each group discussing
among themselves the questions included in each discussion guide. Each group might then represent their
group’s perspective in a class-wide discussion of the whole.

This discussion guide accompanies a case which was originally developed by the Harvard Global Health Institute by Jaclyn Chai, MPH,
Administrative Director, Global Women's Health Programs, Rachel Gordon, MBA, Case Studies Manager, and Paula A. Johnson, MD, MPH of
the Brigham and Women’s Hospital. It is used and distributed with permission by the Global Health Education and Learning Incubator at
Harvard University. Cases are developed solely as the basis for class discussion. Cases are not intended to serve as endorsements, sources of
primary data, or illustrations of effective or ineffective management.
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DISCUSSION GUIDE | Malala Yousafzai: A Young Female Activist

Discussion Questions
• What are some of the barriers to education from the case that girls in Swat Valley face? Why
would the Taliban want to prevent girls from attending school?

• How did the international community respond to the attack on Malala? Why do you think
they respond the way they did?

• What policies did the Pakistani government put into place to respond to the attack on
Malala? Discuss the breadth and quality of the response.

• What was the purpose of Malala’s blog entries for the BBC?

• Should boys help advocate for girls’ education? If so, what actions do you think they can
take?

• Examine the graphs under “Participation in Education” for Pakistan and the United States,
from UNESCO. What are three observations that surprise you? Separate into discussion
groups and brainstorm: What are the social, political, physical environmental, and health
factors that make it difficult for a girl to attend school?

• As the case notes, Malala was not the only Afghan schoolgirl targeted by the Taliban. Debate
as a class whether the attention on Malala alone was deserved.

• Look at Exhibit 2 in the case, which focuses on the leading causes for out-of-school children.
What do you notice about the South Asia region relative to the other regions? What surprises
you about the data?

• Debate as a class: Some say that Malala’s advocacy has not had a demonstrable impact, and that girls
in Pakistan still face the same barriers that they did before Malala was shot? What do you think? Use
data from the case to support your points where possible.

• On September 25, 2015, countries adopted a set of goals to end poverty, protect the planet,
and ensure prosperity for all as part of a new sustainable development agenda. Each
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) has specific targets to be achieved over the next 15
years. Pick one SDG to discuss that you think is relevant to Malala’s story. Why do you think
that meeting your chosen goal could help girls attend school? How might this goal apply
specifically to girls and some of the challenges they face in their lives?

• What kind of change does Malala seek and at what level is she seeking change (e.g., local,
country, international level)? If Malala was your classmate, what kind of changes do you think
she would call for at your school? In your community? In your country?

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This resource is licensed Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-NoDerivs3.0Unported
gheli@harvard.edu
617-495-8222
 DISCUSSION GUIDE | Malala Yousafzai: A Young Female Activist

Select Bibliography
Learn about health in Pakistan:
Pakistan Country Profile. World Health Organization. http://www.who.int/countries/pak/en.

Learn about gender demographics in Pakistan:

Pakistan Country Profile. Population Reference Bureau.
http://www.prb.org/DataFinder/Geography/Data.aspx?loc=386.

Read about human rights in Pakistan:

Pakistan: Events of 2017. World Report 2017. Human Rights Watch 2017. https://www.hrw.org/world-
report/2017/country-chapters/pakistan.

Explore country-specific data on gender:

Little Data Book on Gender 2016. The World Bank Group 2016. http://data.worldbank.org/products/data-
books/little-data-book-on-gender.

Access gender-specific data on development:

Gender Data Portal. The World Bank Group. http://datatopics.worldbank.org/gender.

Learn more about Malala’s story and impact:

He Named Me Malala: Curriculum Guide. National Geographic 2015.
http://media.education.nationalgeographic.com/assets/file/HNMM_curriculum_9.3.15.pdf.

He Named Me Malala: Discussion Guide. National Geographic 2015.

http://media.education.nationalgeographic.com/assets/file/He_Named_Me_Malala_GUIDE_9_3.pdf.

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This resource is licensed Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-NoDerivs3.0Unported
gheli@harvard.edu
617-495-8222