Malala Yousafzai has had a busy week at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. When she wasn’t joining Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to deliver an announcement about funding for the Global Partnership for Education, she was speaking out powerfully about feminism.
At a session facilitated by Buzzfeed global editor Miriam Elder, Malala called on men to step up in support of women.
“We have to teach young boys how to be men,” she said at the event. “In order to be a man you have to recognize that all women and all those around you have equal rights and that you are part of this movement for equality.”
Take Action: All Children Around The World Deserve to Go to School
“When we talk about feminism and women’s rights, we’re actually addressing men,” she added.
Malala’s activism for women and girls around the world has gone beyond just words spoken.
Last year, the education activist embarked on a “Girl Power” trip where she met with Nigerian girls affected by violence by extremist group Boko Haram; Yazidi girls displaced by conflict in Iraq; and girls in Latin America, to name just a few.
Although she called on men to speak out for women’s rights at Davos, she also asked women to take charge of their own lives.
“We’re not going to ask men to change the world. We’re going to do it ourselves,” she said. “We’re going to stand up for ourselves. We are going to raise our voices, and we are going to change the world.”
Read More: Malala’s ‘Girl Power Trip’ Includes Meeting School Girls in Nigeria, Condemning Boko Haram
Malala, who is now a student at Oxford University, also spoke of the importance of girls’ education in the fight to extend feminism around the world. She called on world leaders to take action to ensure that all children are able to get an education.
“I haven’t met a single prime minister who would not send their own children to school,” she said. “All of them send their children to school, their children go to university, they do not need any explanation as to how important education is. But when it comes to the rest of the world’s children, they struggle a bit. So you have to keep on reminding them.”
Malala, for her part, has been an outspoken proponent of the Global Partnership for Education (GPE), which funds education initiatives in 65 developing countries. On Thursday, she accompanied Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on a panel about women’s empowerment, at which Canada committed an additional $180 million to the GPE.
Global Citizen campaigns on the Global Goals for Sustainable Development, including goals number four (quality education) and five (gender equality). You can join us and call on world leaders to fund education through the GPE here.