T

he dastardly attack on Malala Yousufzai by Taliban shooters reminded me of an era that existed in India more than 100 years ago when the majority of Indian women were illiterate and faced severe difficulties, particularly if their husbands died young as the women had no means to earn a living.

At that time, many social workers like Maharshi Karve (who was later awarded Bharat Ratna, India‘s highest civilian award), Mahatma Jyotiba Phule and many others launched a sustained movement to educate Indian women.

They as well as the women who decided to educate themselves faced immense problems from others in the male-dominated
society. People went to the extent of throwing cow dung at them from the sidewalks and also ridiculed them.

Third-degree treatment was meted out to them, even inventing non-existent and baseless scandals to browbeat them into quitting. But, thanks to the iron-willed social workers mentioned above and the intrinsic, strong determination of the women concerned, all these attempts proved ineffective, and a small sapling of women’s education was firmly planted in my country, which has today grown into a big tree.

Today, India can proudly say that it has as many educated women as men, and many women have done better academically than men. Its results show the best in today’s Indian womanhood!

I hope Malala becomes an even bigger icon than the one she is today and that more Pakistani women become educated and pursue new thoughts fit for the 21st century.

There is a big difference between what a father can teach his children and what a mother can during their young, formative years; fathers can generally teach them how to defend themselves, how to survive and how to make a living, but only mothers can teach them to be human and humane!

No country, therefore, can make good social progress unless its mothers are well-educated.

All right-thinking people would surely wish Godspeed to Malala. I personally hope that this little girl becomes a leading light, an icon that will encourage more and more Pakistani women to pursue higher education and lead the next generation toward a better society.

Education offered by mothers to their children, male and female alike, makes them conscious and helps them to determine where they wish to take their country and how to make it a better place in the future.

So Jai Ho to Malala!

K B Kale

Jakarta