Survival and the Nobel Prize

On October 9, 2012, a Taliban gunman boarded Yousafzai’s school bus and shot her. She survived after treatment in Pakistan and the United Kingdom, then returned to public advocacy rather than allowing the attack to define the limit of her work.

In 2014, Yousafzai and Indian child-rights activist Kailash Satyarthi jointly received the Nobel Peace Prize. The shared award connected girls’ education with a wider movement against the exploitation of children and for every child’s right to learn.