This post is part of the Global Mom Relay originally published on Huffington Post. Every time you share this blog on the Global Mom Relay website, $5 will go to women and girls around the world. Scroll to the bottom to find out more.

Leadership is not about title, position, or age. No one reminds us of that more than Malala Yousafzai.

Long before the October 2012 attempted assassination of Malala shocked the world, the teenage blogger from Swat Valley, Pakistan, was an activist. She wrote under a pen name about life under the Taliban, sharing the struggles she endured as she and her family advocated for girls’ education.

At 15, Malala is a leader. She shows us that leadership is about vision. It’s about values that endure, uncompromised. It’s about sacrifice and conviction, about the resolve to take risks and persevere. In her first interview since the attempt on her life, Malala told the world, “I want every girl to be educated.” Her message is clear: girls’ education leads to empowerment.

What I’ve seen in my work around the world, and what research proves to be true, is that denying a girl her education means denying her chance to a future. Education leads to economic growth and improved health; it reduces the risk of child marriage and increases the likelihood that girls will escape if they are threatened by physical abuse. And yet, this basic human right is denied to 61 million children of primary school age, including 32 million girls.

Read the entire article on the Huffington Post and share with friends!

About Global Mom Relay: Each time you share this Global Mom Relay piece on Facebook, Twitter, or Email, or donate $5 or more on the Global Mom Relay website, a $5 donation (up to $8,000 per day) will be donated by Johnson & Johnson and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to Girl Up. Join us by sharing it forward and unlock the potential for women and children around the globe. For more information, visit www.unfoundation.org/globalmomrelay. The United Nations Foundation, Johnson & Johnson, BabyCenter, The Huffington Post, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation created the Global Mom Relay, a first-of-its-kind virtual relay with a goal of improving the lives of women and children around the globe.