It wasn’t until just last week that I heard the name Malala Yousafzia, and it was in the worst possible light that I came to know her name.

Yousafzia, a 14-year-old Pakistani school girl, is an education activist to say the least. At age 11, Yousafzia started writing a blog for BBC about living under Taliban rule, for which she received a national peace prize. The Taliban were driven out of Yousafzia’s home region of Pakistan in 2009. Yousafzia’s school and other girls’ schools were reopened.

On Oct. 9, a gunman opened fire on Yousafzia’s school  bus, shooting Yousafzia in the head and neck and wounding two other girls.

A spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban issued a statement saying, “If anyone thinks that Malala is targeted because of education, that’s absolutely wrong, and a propaganda of Media. Malala is targeted because of her pioneer role in preaching secularism and so called enlightened moderation.”

Yousafzia remains in critical condition, unconscious and breathing with a ventilator, as of Saturday.

The spokesman claimed that Yousafzia was not targeted because of education. No. Yousafzia was targeted because of her bravery, her courage of conviction, and her stand for equality, along with her right to attend school.

It takes a lot for anyone to defy even the most mundane orders, but Yousafzia defied and stood strong against death threats. It’s because of her, and other girls like her, that we need to understand the importance of equality in every aspect of life, be it education, health care or wages.

It isn’t just in Pakistan or the United States that equality is important; it’s important everywhere. Yousafzia wanted to better herself and the lives of others. To be able to better yourself, whenever you so chose, is the ultimate form of equality in my mind. We take that for granted, I believe, because we live in a country where everyone is supposed to have the same opportunities.

However, I believe that even if everyone in the United States were 100 percent equal and Yousafzia and other girls like her were still not able to better themselves by going to school, or doing whatever they so chose with their lives, then equality has not prevailed.

Whether or not Yousafzia survives this attack, I hope people understand what she stood for, and I hope people follow her footsteps to promote equality and the betterment of themselves and others.