Since the attack on 9 October 2012 to which she fell victim as an adolescent, Malala Yousafzai has stirred an enormous volume of debate. Subsequently, Yousafzai has turned herself into a fervent defender of a childhood living in countries devastated by war and poverty that affect too many parts of the Global South.  She has employed a theme that is hardly original but that has seduced powerful states, the media and Western civil society. She has hammered home an apparently simplistic message that ‘one child, one teacher, one book, one pen can change the world’. She has received numerous awards and prizes, including the Nobel Prize for Peace in 2013, the citation underlining in particular the courage she showed at an early age. 

Forced to go into exile, Yousafzai also worked to promote the image of an enlightened Islam concerned for dignity and peace - that encouraged boys and girls in equal measure to educate themselves. The attention the West showered on Yousafzai for a while provoked the suspicion of many of her Pakistani compatriots, although this gradually turned to indifference. It is evident that since the sad attack in 2012, the young woman, for fear of her life, has been unable to stay in Pakistan. One can also debate the impact her discourse, and the foundation she initiated - the Malala Yousafzai Foundation, have had in the country. Has Yousafzai since become an icon of feminism in Pakistan, a source of inspiration for civil society engaged in the difficult struggle for gender equality? 

Before examining the issue outlined above, we will look at the rise of Malala Yousafzai in Western public life. Governments, the media and civil society in North America and Western Europe have not usually shown so much interest in understanding the positions defended by educated circles in Muslim societies, preferring more often to qualify them as conservative if not backward. They have also less used to welcoming a young woman who continues to wear a headscarf. Was it Yousafzai’s youth that inspired genuine sympathy? Were the world powers, rejecting all responsibility for the terrible consequences of the ‘War on Terror’ in Afghanistan and Pakistan, seeking to soothe their consciences, while intoning the salutary qualities of education against the evils that undermined many societies in the developing world? In parallel, they tended to imply that the struggle undertaken by Malala Yousafzai in her country was in some way unique. We will also, later in the article, look at the remarkable work carried out in Pakistan by other social workers, often in very difficult circumstances. Indeed, their dedication and courage would turn them into icons of feminism the country could be proud of, were it not for the lack of media coverage.