Malala Yousafzai, the Nobel Peace Prize winner who started work as a women’s rights activist after she survived a Taliban attack at age 15, is bringing her expertise to women’s sports. Yousafzai, along with tennis legend Billie Jean King, has created Recess, a non-profit expanding sports and athletics opportunities for girls and women around the world.
Recess will focus both on professional sports opportunities for women and youth sports programs for girls around the world. The non-profit has its sights set on not only more opportunities, but equitable facilities for girls and women, as well as, spotlighting female athletes as role models.
Malala Yousafzai, the Nobel Peace Prize winner who started work as a women’s rights activist after she survived a Taliban attack at age 15, is bringing her expertise to women’s sports. Yousafzai, along with tennis legend Billie Jean King, has created Recess, a non-profit expanding sports and athletics opportunities for girls and women around the world.Â
Recess will focus both on professional sports opportunities for women and youth sports programs for girls around the world. The non-profit has its sights set on not only more opportunities, but equitable facilities for girls and women, as well as, spotlighting female athletes as role models.
“We are capable of dialogue, we are capable of coming together, and sports, in history, in the current times, have proven to be that powerful way of bringing communities together,” Yousafzai told CNN Sports. “We could be competitive, but at the same time, when the game is over, we can hug each other, shake hands, and recognize that we’re all one humanity.”
Yousafzai and King announced the creation of Recess at the Power of Women’s Sport Summit in London.
“We were looking for an opportunity where we could bring in our expertise, our platform to benefit women’s sports in general, just because of the lack of investments, lack of opportunities,” Yousafzai said.
Yousafzai and King will first focus on partnerships with the WNBA and NWSL because of the recent growth and interest in those two leagues. She said she hopes that the established leagues can “test the economics and the mission side of our work.”Â
According to The Good News Network, Yousafzai’s interest in sports began at an early age when she recalls “having to stay behind with the other girls while the boys at school headed off to the cricket fields during recess.”
“It’s empowering girls. It’s sending a powerful message to women, to all of us, that the sky’s the limit, and women’s sports will thrive,” said Yousafzai. “We will have more equal opportunities for women and girls and we can imagine a world where girls are empowered.”
