Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers (2008) deconstructs the notion of successful people being successful purely because of their efforts and talent. Gladwell convinces readers the successful are, “beneficiaries of hidden advantages and extraordinary opportunities and cultural legacies that allow them to learn and work hard and make sense of the world in ways other cannot” (p.20).
Gladwell invites a new introspective into I am Malala, an autobiography by Malala Yousafzai and co-writer, Christina Lamb (2013). Yousafzai is a human rights activist and the youngest Nobel Prize laureate. Her story chronicles her fight for education in her homeland, Swat Valley, Pakistan, where Taliban have banned girls from school.
Raised with the overlooming expectation girls be subservient to men, Yousafzai proclaimed, “I had decided very early I would not be like that. My father always said, ‘Malala will be free as a bird’” (p.22). As a child, Yousafzai’s strong moral compass would guide her in her future pursuits, but she had a powerful beneficiary in her father.
Yousafzai quickly distinguished her father from “most Pashtun men” (p.9). While the births of sons were celebrated, daughters were “hidden behind a curtain” (p.9). Her father subverted it by writing her name on their clan’s family tree which only showed the male line (p.9). He asked friends to “throw dried fruits, sweets and coins” in her cradle, usually exclusively done for boys (p.10). His actions expressed he cherished her birth no matter her gender.
When her brother was born, her joyful mother wanted to buy a new cradle for him despite giving birth at home because they couldn’t afford the hospital (p.16). Yousafzai recounted her father refusing the request, as she originally used an old wooden one, “Malala swung in that cradle, he said. “So can he’ (16)”. Regardless of family dynamics changing, her father insisted both children be loved and treated equally.
His marriage modelled the importance of women having equality to Malala. Yousafzai articulated women’s societal role were “simply to prepare food and give birth to children” (p.9), and “most men refused to share their problems with women because it was seen as weak” (p.18). In contrast, her parents were equals and shared mutual respect. Her father deemed her advice always right and shared everything with her despite her illiteracy (18).
His influence extended to Malala’s opportunities. Because education led to his success, he passed its value to Malala. Since childhood, her father actively took part in literary societies, decision-making, and environmentalism (p.19), and she first started campaigning with him (p.7). He and his friend founded the school Malala attended (p.3), and it was through his friend, a BBC radio correspondent, she received the chance to write about her life under the Taliban (p.23), triggering her rise to prominence.
Malala’s ambition, intelligence, and determination are her own characteristics, but Gladwell presents the question how far she could’ve honed them without the accumulative advantages her father gave her. Behind any result are invisible factors, if any shifted, how much would change? If Malala’s father didn’t believe in equality, if he never passed his values to her, never mentioned the BBC to her, would Malala be the Malala we know today?
Sources Cited:
Yousafzai, Malala, and Christina Lamb. The Story of the Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban. Thorndike Press, 2017.
Gladwell, Malcolm. Outliers: The Story of Success. Little, Brown and Company , 2008.