We Heart: Malala Talking Back to Trump at the World Economic Forum

Donald Trump arrived in Davos, Switzerland today for the World Economic Forum, joined by members of his cabinet. Thus far, he has used his time at the convening of global leaders to push his so-called “America First” agenda—one that appears to be in stark contrast to the event’s theme, “Creating a Shared Future in a Fractured World”—and doubled-down on threats to cut humanitarian aid to Pakistan.

Education activist Malala Yousafzai, however, used her time in Switzerland to push for education equity, and particularly for girls’ education around the world—and push back on Trump’s rhetoric around women’s rights. When the 20-year-old Nobel Prize winner was asked what her message to “someone like” Donald Trump would be, she challenged world leaders like him to do better—and encouraged women to continue to stand on the front lines fighting for gender equality until they do.

“I just get so disappointed to see that people are, at these high positions, that they talk against women, they will not accept women as equal, they harass women,” she said, “and it is just shocking, for a second, to believe that this is actually happening. And I hope that women stand up and they speak out against it. And I hope that people who are involved in such shameful things think about their own daughters, their own mothers and their own close female relatives and just imagine for a second that—can they let it happen to their daughters, to their sisters, to their mothers. And I don’t think they would accept that.”

Watch her full remarks below.

Feature image via World Economic Forum.

 

 

About

Carmen Rios is a self-proclaimed feminist superstar and the former digital editor at Ms. Her writing on queerness, gender, race and class has been published in print and online by outlets including BuzzFeed, Bitch, Bust, CityLab, DAME, ElixHER, Feministing, Feminist Formations, GirlBoss, GrokNation, MEL, Mic, the National Women’s History Museum, SIGNS and the Women’s Media Center; and she is a co-founder of Webby-nominated Argot Magazine. @carmenriosss|carmenfuckingrios.com