On the occasion of Women’s March, Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai has said that women have the right to choose any outfit from burqa to bikini.
Malala said that no one has the right to tell a woman what to wear and what not to wear. “When the Taliban took over the Swat Valley, my mother also faced restrictions. The Taliban forced women to wear black abayas and shuttlecock burqas until I was 10 or 11 years old,” she said.
Malala said that women should have the right to choose between burqa and bikini. “Come on, let’s give women autonomy, stop harm and violence, talk about education and freedom,” she asserted.
It should be noted that on the occasion of International Women’s Day in Pakistan, preparations for the Women’s March have reached a climax across the country. New slogans have also been prepared with banners this year.
Since 1921, March 8 is celebrated as International Women’s Day when Clara Zetkin, a women’s rights activist of German origin, proposed it to be the day to honor the hard work of women’s rights activists all over the world at a conference.
Read more: ‘Horrifying’: Malala urges Indian leaders to let girls go to schools in hijab
It was adopted by greater feminist movements in the 1960’s across countries and in 1975 was officially recognized and celebrated by the United Nations. In some parts of the world, March 8 is like any other day of the year, but in other parts, it is celebrated, honored and now, more than ever, viewed as a day representing global protest and demand for change.
