15 wishes for 2023: Trailblazers tell how they'd make life on Earth a bit better

My wish: In the fight for women's rights, we should 'remember that courage is stronger than fear'

Malala Yousafzai, winner of the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize and co-founder of Malala Fund, a global girls' education charity

Education equality is an ambitious goal. Especially now, when women's rights are worsening around the world. Iranian women are protesting for the right to make their own choices. Taliban leaders in Afghanistan instituted a nationwide ban on girls' education. Discouraging as these realities may be, my wish is for people to remember that courage is stronger than fear.

Young women in every country are working to defy misogyny and demonstrate their power. They know solutions to our world's biggest problems are locked up with their access to education and opportunity. They also know there are feasible plans to get all girls learning — like increasing government funding for education, developing inclusive curriculums and implementing more equal policies and laws. To get leaders to prioritize these plans, we need to amplify girls' demands on a global scale. We need individuals, movements and companies across every expertise to speak up, take actions that advance gender equality and pressure leaders to do the same.

Women and girls continue to muster their strength amidst even the greatest of challenges because they know it isn't enough to hope for a better future, we need to fight for it.

My wish: Don't give up the fight against COVID-19

Gregg Gonsalves, a longtime