5 brave and inspiring women who are changing the world right now

Malala Yousafzai was born in Pakistan on 12 July, 1997. Her parents wanted to give Malala the best education she could have had in a country where women's rights were infringed.

Her father was a teacher at a girls' school in their village and everything went fine for Malala and her classmates until 2008. That year, Taliban took control of the village and banned school education for girls. Malala and her friends had to leave the school.

Even 4 years later, Malala didn't accept such fate. She spoke publicly about the women's right to learn, which made her a Taliban's target. She was shot on the left side of her head in October 2012. Malala woke up 10 days after the attack in a UK hospital.

After many surgeries and rehabilitation, Malala continued to act. With the help of her father, she established Malala Fund, a charity dedicated to helping girls who want to receive education they deserve. Today Malala is known worldwide as an activist for female education, and she continues to change lives.

In 2014, she became the youngest Nobel Prize laureate (aged 17).

Leymah Gbowee is a peace activist from Liberia. Together with other social workers and non-indifferent people, she began the Women of Liberia Mass Action for Peace movement, which played an important role in ending the Second Liberian Civil War (1999 - 2003).

In 2011, she, along with Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Tawakkul Karman, were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize "for their non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women's rights to full participation in peace-building work." Gbowee also helped Sirleaf to enable a free election and become the first elected female head of state in Africa.

At the age of 15, Greta refused to visit school on Fridays – instead, she started regular single-person protests outside the Swedish parliament trying to draw attention to the problems of ecology and climate change. Greta attracted media coverage, and people from around the world joined her "School strike for the climate" movement after the 2018 United Nations Climate Change Conference. Media described it as the Greta Thunberg effect.

In 2014, Nadia's village in Iraq was attacked by the IS (Islamic State). Hundreds of people were massacred, and Nadia, among other young women and girls, were abducted and captured in sex slavery. Three months later, Nadia managed to escape and find a family who helped her.

After the escape, Nadia made a difficult decision to openly tell the world about the terrors she went through. Thousands of women remained captive, and Nadia felt the need to help them. She now works to help the victims of human trafficking and abuse.

Melinda is known as "the most powerful woman in philanthropy" in the world. With her husband Bill Gates, she co-founded the world's largest private charitable organization – Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. It holds $50.7 billion in assets!

Melinda is a passionate advocate for women rights, and she has recently started a new mission – she wants to attract more women in tech industry, and give them every opportunity to grow, develop their skills and create.