CNN
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Malala Yousafzai is known to millions of people around the world as an activist and human rights activist. This is the voice of strength and inspiration that he survived an attempted Taliban assassination at the age of 15.
But take the major women’s sporting events of the past few years. You can bet on Yousafzai in the stands, including cricket, soccer, basketball, netball, the Olympics and the Commonwealth Games. She even spent a frozen Valentine’s Day night with her husband Assel Malik.
Now called the Single Malala, Yousafzai has transformed her fandom into a platform for investing in women’s sports around the world, both at the professional and amateur level.
Recess is her latest initiative aimed at strengthening the rights of women and girls through sports. This is a concept that can be said to have been in the pipeline since Yousafzai’s childhood in Pakistan.
“I remember the school break times when boys went out to the local cricket playground and girls had to stay behind,” she said in an exclusive interview with CNN Sports. “From that point on, I knew sports were something girls couldn’t easily access.”
And in today’s global climate, rising conflict and political tensions, Yousafzai believes sports will play a more important role than ever before.
“I think about young people and how their lives are at risk, how their children are killed, how they are starved, and how girls’ rights are being taken away in Afghanistan,” she said. “Just seeing tensions around the world, we can only hope for peace and pray, and encourage everyone to put their weapons and think about hope for humanity.
“We can have dialogue. We are coming together and in history sports have proven to be a powerful way of bringing together communities in our present age. …We can be competitive, but at the same time, when the game is over, we can embrace each other, shake hands, and we can all shake humanity.”
A longtime dedicated campaigner for women’s education, Yousafzai became an internationally recognized figure after being shot in the head by the Taliban while riding a bus from school.
To save her life, she was airlifted to a hospital in Birmingham, England, where she had months of surgery and rehabilitation, and recovered and turned the UK into a new home with her family.
Being attached to this experience, Yousafzai founded the Malala Fund in 2013 to defend the right to education for girls, and the following year at the age of 17, he became the youngest person to win the Nobel Peace Prize.
The exit, which began Tuesday to appear at Billy Jean King Power at the Women’s Sports Summit in London, is Yousafzai’s latest initiative dedicated to women and girls’ rights. This time she is doing it with her husband. Her husband has set up a cricket franchise in Pakistan and has worked with the country’s cricket committee.
“Because of the lack of investment and lack of opportunities, we were looking for opportunities that could bring us a platform that would benefit our expertise, women’s sports in general,” says Yousafzai.
Among those who contribute to the advisor initiative are Billy Jean King and his wife Ilana Cross. “People who believe in women’s sports as a business opportunity and believe that women’s sports will help us promote gender equity,” Yousafzai added.
She and Malik have identified the NWSL and WNBA as two leagues that are trying to invest in for the “huge potential” of growth, Yousafzai said.
This approach focuses on women’s professional sports in recognized emerging markets, but also on increasing the number of girls involved in sports around the world.
By the age of 14, girls had dropped out of sports activities twice as much as boys, according to the Women’s Sports Foundation. This includes social stigma, lack of role models, etc. due to limited opportunities.
“To grow women’s sports everywhere, they need a different approach to different locations,” Malik told CNN Sports. “And obviously, the off-day approach is to treat them like a proper business and prove that it is a great business case.
Away from the boardroom, Yousafzai, like many people who grew up in Pakistan, is an avid cricket fan. She is also an avid golfer, admitting to thinking about sports “almost every week” and kicks out exactly and detailing her best shot to Malik after the round.
From her perspective as a fan, the 27-year-old has seen the impact of athletes like Kate Rinklerk, the Indiana Fever star who has grown an audience in the WNBA. She believes it’s like Clark. She believes she can act as a role model and encourage more girls to engage in the sport purely behind their performances.
“They really have a big impact without actually saying a lot,” Yousafzai said. “I don’t think you need to ask them about every topic and every issue, the fact that they are on the ground and they are in court has already changed perspective.
“It gives girls strength. It sends a powerful message to all of us, women, that the sky is the limit and women’s sport will flourish. We can imagine a world where there are more equal opportunities for women and girls and girls can be empowered.”
