Results: Brave New Girls

An 18-year-old Saudi woman's flight from her abusive family has rallied opposition to the kingdom's male guardianship system - with some activists predicting her story could inspire a "revolution" for women in the Muslim country. Rahaf al-Qunun has now been granted asylum in Canada after fleeing her homeland, where she faced persecution and harm from her own family after renouncing Islam. Some freedoms have been granted under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who ended a ban on women driving, eased restrictions on gender mixing, and championed firsts such as allowing women to serve in the armed forces. But those changes have been accompanied by a crackdown on dissent, including the arrest and alleged torture of some of the activists who campaigned for decades to improve women's rights. Many activists are calling for an end to the guardianship system, which has been chipped away at slowly over the years but remains in force. Under the system, every Saudi women is assigned a male relative - often a father or husband but sometimes an uncle, brother or even a son - whose approval is needed if she is to marry, obtain a passport and travel abroad. The plight of Ms Qunun, who slipped away from her family last weekend during a holiday in Kuwait, recalls the cases of other Saudi women who fled mistreatment only to be forcibly returned to the kingdom and never heard from again. Honour killings are common, and Ms. Qunun will likely never be able to return to her family home, under this threat. Do you admire this young woman for what she has done?

Australia, the country she was trying to reach, and Canada, the most outspoken western country on Saudi Arabia's human rights record, offered her sanctuary. Finally she was granted asylum in Canada, where she landed today, January 12. Earlier in the day Ms Qunun had to delete her Twitter account, which had been actively denouncing the Saudi oppression of women, after receiving death threats from Saudi men, including, she said, her cousin. Do you feel it was appropriate that Canada granted her asylum especially in light of their human rights record?

When you think of bravery and young women, one name surely comes to mind -- Malala Yousafzai. The now 21 year old Pakistani activist for female education and the youngest Nobel Prize laureate is known for human rights advocacy, especially the education of women and children in her native Pakistan, where the local Taliban had at times banned girls from attending school. Her advocacy has grown into an international movement. She herself survived a gun shot to the head, in retaliation for her activism. Rather than silence her, it only made her stronger, and dedicated to improving the lives of women and children in a world where many of them have no voice. Her book, "We Are Displaced: My Journey and Stories from Refugee Girls Around the World", which came out last year , tells the stories of these women and children More than 68.5 million people are currently living as refugees or internally displaced people — the majority are children and most are girls. In her book she introduces the girls behind the numbers. "What tends to get lost in the current refugee crisis is the humanity behind the statistics," says Malala. "We hear about millions of refugees, hundreds of migrants trapped on a boat or in a truck, but it's only when a truly shocking image appears in the news that people consider what's really going on." The proceeds from sales of the book go toward Malala Fund's work supporting girls' education in conflict. Do you feel that it is the personal stories that draw attention to these types of crisis?