Malala on Vogue cover: ‘I know power in a young girl’s heart’

Malala features on the cover of the July issue of British Vogue

Malala Yousafzai says going to university "finally" gave her some time for herself - including eating McDonald's and playing poker.

The Nobel Prize winner, 23, gave a wide-ranging interview to British Vogue and features on the cover of the magazine's July issue.

Ms Yousafzai graduated from Oxford University last year.

"I was excited about literally anything - going to McDonald's or playing poker with my friends," she said.

"I was enjoying each and every moment because I had not seen that much before. I had never really been in the company of people my own age."

Ms Yousafzai was shot in the head by Taliban militants when she was 14, after campaigning for girls to be educated in her native Pakistan.

Malala Yousafzai wore a headscarf in the Vogue photoshoot

She said she had "never really been in the company of people my own age because I was recovering from the incident, and travelling around the world, publishing a book and doing a documentary, and so many things were happening".

"At university I finally got some time for myself."

'Headscarf not a sign I'm oppressed'

Ms Yousafzai, who was pictured for British Vogue wearing a red headscarf, says the garment is not a sign she is "oppressed".

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She says the headscarf represents her roots as a Sunni Muslim of Pashtun ethnicity.

"And Muslim girls or Pashtun girls or Pakistani girls, when we follow our traditional dress, we're considered to be oppressed, or voiceless, or living under patriarchy," she added.

"I want to tell everyone that you can have your own voice within your culture, and you can have equality in your culture."

She also criticised some activism on social media, which she says "needs to change".

"Right now," she told Vogue, "we have associated activism with tweets. That needs to change, because Twitter is a completely different world."

'Greta texts me for advice'

Ms Yousafzai revealed her close friendship with other young activists, saying Greta Thunberg texts her for advice.

"I know the power that a young girl carries in her heart when she has a vision and a mission," she said.

Malala met environment activist Greta Thunberg in Oxford last year

In 2014, Ms Yousafzai became the youngest-ever winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, for her work campaigning for girls to have a universal right to education.

Ms Yousafzai admitted that she "didn't write anything about the Nobel Prize" on her personal statement for Oxford. "I felt a bit embarrassed."

While studying for her degree in philosophy, politics and economics, Ms Yousafzai says she used to stay up all night to write her essays "every week".

"I would be so annoyed with myself, like, 'Why am I sitting here at 2am, writing this essay? Why haven't I done any reading?'"

'I just want to be a student'

Ms Yousafzai said fame affected her schooling in Birmingham, where she was educated after leaving Pakistan.

"People would ask me things like, 'What was it like when you met Emma Watson, or Angelina Jolie or Obama?"' she said.

"And I wouldn't know what to say. It's awkward, because you want to leave that Malala outside the school building, you want to just be a student and a friend."

Currently, Ms Yousafzai lives with her parents in Birmingham, where the family moved after the attempted assassination.

She says she is not sure what to do next, and asks herself: "Where do I live next? Should I continue to live in the UK, or should I move to Pakistan, or another country?"

The activist even revealed how her father occasionally receives emails from potential suitors in Pakistan.

"The boy says that he has many acres of land and many houses and would love to marry me," she said.

The full feature will be in the July issue of British Vogue, in shops and available to download from Friday.