From marriage plans to headscarf: Six takeaways from Malala Yousafzai’s British Vogue interview

Malala Yousafzai, who featured on the cover of British Vogue‘s June edition, spilled the beans on her lockdown days, wearing a headscarf, her go-to dish, friendships, and much more, in the interview. Here’s what she said:

On lockdown

The 23-year-old, who graduated during the pandemic moved to Birmingham to complete her final year at Oxford University from her parent’s house. She spent her time playing online games, eating lamb curry cooked by her mother, reading and “doom-scrolling” on social media.

Her go-to food order

The activist got some time at the university to play poker with her friends and visit McDonald’s where she ordered sweet chilli chicken wrap and a caramel frappe.

“I had never really been in the company of people my own age because I was recovering from the incident [the Taliban’s attempt on her life], and travelling around the world, publishing a book and doing a documentary, and so many things were happening. At university I finally got some time for myself,” she was quoted as saying.

 

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On marriage

Talking about how her parents wished to see their daughter married one day, she added, “I still don’t understand why people have to get married. If you want to have a person in your life, why do you have to sign marriage papers, why can’t it just be a partnership?”

Love for comedies

Apart from documentaries on serious issues like women’s rights and girls’ education, Malala said she wants to make comedies as well, her favourites being Rick and Morty and Ted Lasso.

Talking about the launch of her new production company ‘Extracurricular’, she added, “I want these shows to be entertaining and the sort of thing I would watch. If I don’t laugh at them or enjoy them, I won’t put them on-screen.”

On wearing a headscarf

Malala said that wearing a headscarf meant more to her than her Muslim faith. “It’s a cultural symbol for us Pashtuns, so it represents where I come from. And Muslim girls or Pashtun girls or Pakistani girls, when we follow our traditional dress, we’re considered to be oppressed, or voiceless, or living under patriarchy. I want to tell everyone that you can have your own voice within your culture, and you can have equality in your culture,” she expressed in the interview.

Friendship with Greta Thunberg

Malala is friends with both 18-year-old climate activist Greta Thunberg and 21-year-old gun control campaigner Emma González. Both text her for advice, she said. “I know the power that a young girl carries in her heart when she has a vision and a mission,” Malala added.