Maria Toorpakai Wazir : Playing Her Way to Equality

Short biographies of activists from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and India

 South Asian Activists

Written and Illustrated By: Margaret Robinette

As time went on, Genghis Khan opened up a whole new world for Maria. At the age of ten, Maria and her family moved to Peshawar, and Maria learned very quickly that she would have to prove herself as Genghis Khan if she was going to be able to stick with the boys. Soon, she was confronted with fight after fight with the boys in the neighborhood. They were determined to take down the new kid on the block, and yet, they kept losing to Maria. More fights occurred, until one day, Maria's father had enough and took her to a gym where she was identified as Genghis Khan, a twelve-year-old boy. Almost immediately, she started to weightlift alongside her brother, Taimur.

When you go outside, what kind of games do you play? Do you play hide and go seek, tag, badminton, or soccer? Do you play make-believe where you save the lost puppy or go into battle to defeat the evil monsters? Now, imagine your favorite game and not being able to enjoy it, simply because you were born a girl. How does that make you feel?

This is where our story begins, with a young Maria Toorpakai Wazir - a girl who wanted nothing more than to play outside. Little did Maria know that her dream would change her life and others.

Maria gathered up all of her dresses, hair ribbons, and anything else that made her identifiable as a girl and set them on fire. She burned the items that kept her from playing outside, and in an even more drastic move, Maria took the last step to separating herself from looking like a girl. She took a knife, cut off her long hair, and threw it into the fire. Maria was free from the chains of society that told her girls were not allowed to play outside.

With the support of her family, Maria no longer used her feminine name. To the world, she was now Genghis Khan, a young boy who loved nothing more than to run around outside, let the sun beat down on their skin, and simply be free.

What was Maria going to do? She loved the game of squash, but now her life was in danger because of a sport. Maria, with the help of her father, did what she had always done. She persisted! Maria refused to let anyone tell her what she could do or who she had to be. She was Maria Toorpakai Wazir, and she loved playing squash and that is exactly what she was going to do.

The competition was tough, but Maria was tougher. She fought to the very end until she could no longer continue. In the end, as Genghis Khan, Maria won second place in the weight lifting tournament. She had beaten almost every single boy in the competition, and yet no one, besides her brother and her father, knew that she had done this as a girl. Maria had done the unimaginable - succeed in sports as a female in Pakistan.

Maria was born on November 22, 1990, in a small village within Waziristan, Pakistan. In Waziristan, there are tribal laws that end up burdening the people that live there, specifically the girls.

The girls in the village are meant to simply listen to the men in society, no questions asked. They are not allowed to go outside and play while the boys are allowed to run around in the sun and enjoy their time. Instead, the girls are raised to hide away from the world and take care of the home. Luckily for Maria, the family she was born into pushed back against these kinds of beliefs.

This book was created in a South Asian Politics course at Lehigh University taught by Professor Nandini Deo (ndd208@lehigh.edu). I tried to contact the activist featured in this book; however, I was not able to get into contact with Maria Toorpakai. 

- A Different Kind of Daughter: The Girl Who Hid From The Taliban in Plain Sight by Maria Toorpakai with Katherine Holstein<br/><br/>- https://www.mariatoorpakai.com

Even though the world now saw Maria as Genghis Khan, she was still her father's daughter, and to remind herself of this, she would whisper to herself her three birth names, Maria Toorpakai Wazir. She never wanted to forget who she really was.

Maria quickly got to work with her new squash coach, but instead of going as Genghis Khan, this time, she would be competing as Maria. There would be no more hiding and no more pretending. Maria was ready to compete as a girl.

Her journey to improve at this sport was not easy. It came with a lot of bullying from the boys she was training with, many bruises and scrapes all over her body, and lots of sacrifice from both her and her family. However, Maria persevered through it all.  

In the end, Maria ended up winning the Liberty Bell Open in 2012! She had done everything that the Taliban told her that she could not. Maria became educated and succeeded internationally in her sport, all while refusing to give up on her dreams. After Maria's successes in squash, she became passionate in her pursuit of making sure other young girls got the same opportunities as her to play sports and pursue their dreams.

While Maria was falling in love with the game of squash, her home country of Pakistan was struggling. The Taliban, a dangerous, violent, and extremist group, was starting to win over power in Pakistan, leaving their influence wherever they went. This influence included oppressing women. Due to their beliefs, the Taliban did not support women being educated or having the right to participate in sports. This meant trouble for Maria because, over time, the Taliban found out about her playing squash. They wanted her to stop immediately.

After her triumphant victory, Maria slowly started to lose interest in weightlifting. She was ready for the next challenge in her life. As Maria was starting to transition out of weightlifting to find another passion of hers, she stumbled upon a sport called squash. She immediately fell in love with how the ball bounced around the walls and how the players moved with such intensity. Maria had found her calling!

Thank you Maria Toorpakai Wazir for never backing down from a fight and constantly pushing the boundaries, not only for yourself but for all who have yet to come. And thank you Genghis Khan for giving Maria the strength and confidence to persevere! If you are interested in donating to Maria's foundation or learning more about her mission, please click the link below. Stay empowered!

Maria Toorpakai Foundation

"Behind you, waiting alone in the dark are 1,000 Maria's. My dreams are for them," <br/>- Shamsul Qayyum Wazir and Maria Toorpakai Wazir

Maria's family was different than other families from where she lived because each family member was treated as an equal in her house. Her parents believed that just because Maria was born a girl, it didn't mean that she was any less of a person. Instead, they empowered young Maria to be her true self despite all of the laws in Waziristan saying otherwise.

Maria's true self took form at the young age of four years old. One day, when Maria was looking out of her window and saw a bunch of boys playing in a field, something completely overtook her. As she watched them run around in the dirt, shouting to one another with glee, she knew that as a girl, her society did not allow her to join them. So, instead of accepting this, little Maria decided to change her fate.

Maria later on became the national champion in Pakistan for the game of squash, becoming the first and only Pashtun woman to accomplish this at the time. She ranked #58 internationally and #3 as a World Junior. With the help of her family, Maria defied all odds and continued to be a successful professional in squash despite being threatened by the Taliban.

Eventually, the Taliban's threats became too dangerous, and Maria was forced to leave Pakistan. She ended up moving to Canada to continue to train under a new coach, Jonathan Power, one of the greatest squash players of all time. Nothing was going to stop Maria from playing the game that had given her so much in return. 

Maria trained hard and entered to compete in her first weightlifting competition after only being in the sport for about eight weeks. She was completely in her element there. 

Round after round, Maria was beating the other boys in the competition left and right until it was just her and a Punjabi boy. He was much older than Maria, and he just so happened to be the reigning champion from the year before. With all the confidence and the courage in the world, Maria summoned her strength to compete against this boy.

Today, Maria serves as a member of the Women in Sports Commission of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the founder of the Maria Toorpakai Foundation (MTF), both of which serve to empower young women in sports.

Her foundation, in particular, focuses on spreading awareness about the issue of gender inequality. The Maria Toorpakai Foundation hosts the "Sports Awareness Campaign" each year in different parts of Pakistan to guide young girls through their journey in sports. Additionally, Maria travels to Pakistan to personally encourage young girls to participate in both sports and their education. However, during the covid pandemic when she could not travel, Maria and her foundation hosted virtual fitness and awareness sessions to keep women engaged and active during quarantine.

Pakistan | History, Population, Religion, & Prime Minister

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