Marina Khan sees Malala Yousafzai as an inspiration. Khan, 18, is a Lodi High graduate starting her freshman year at San Joaquin Delta College studying biological sciences.
She has the same goal as Malala — speaking out for the educational rights of Muslim girls and young women. Malala survived being shot after speaking out regarding the rights of Muslim women and girls. She later was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
After Khan was profiled in the News-Sentinel, she was invited to speak last week to the Delta Kappa Gamma Women’s International Association during a gathering at the Lodi home of member Sheila Dunn.
“We come here for opportunities. We come for freedom. What is the point of coming here when we don’t allow our daughters to go to college?,” she asked. “That is my message to household elders of Pakistani daughters — to allow their daughter to go to college. Many of them do want an education, but they are unable to receive it, due to the family elders.”
Khan says many Pakistani girls attend public school up to seventh grade, then they go to independent study or drift away from school altogether.
“Modesty is very, very important in the religion of Islam. Boys and girls together are not allowed in the religion. But when you live in America you can’t do that. You can’t segregate boys and girls here in America,” she said. “When they come to America they should allow their daughters to go to school. These parents have an old-fashioned type of mind, and you can’t change that. That’s why I am trying to speak to them — they came to America for their children and for them to have a better life.”
Instead of letting their daughters take advantage of the educational opportunities available in the U.S., she says the daughters are being married off at an early age.
She says the girls in the Pakistani community in Lodi are very talented, but they are not given that chance to go to regular school beyond a certain point. “Home school, senior year; done, married, kids… that’s it.” she says. “It’s very sad.”
Her plan is to go out to schools and speak to these students and encourage them to get an education. She says many Pakistani girls are being home schooled, and she believes they should be able to go to public school, to play sports, to be able to apply for scholarships.
When asked how she handles the criticism in her community by people who don’t agree with her educational choices, Khan says: “I just ignore it, I don’t bring it to my heart.”
Khan will be the first woman in her family to study at college. “But my parents are standing with me and I have their support.”
