Consider it the latest use of girl power.
International activist Malala Yousafzai recently announced a new venture called Recess that will deploy a partnership with tennis legend Billie Jean King to promote women’s sports across the world, including some planned investment in basketball’s WNBA and the NWSL (National Women’s Soccer League).
Yousafzai, who survived a gunshot wound from the Taliban at 15 and won the Nobel Peace Prize just a few years later, is a huge sports fan who recognizes the power of athletics to pull people together.
“We are capable of dialogue, we are capable of coming together, and sports—in history and in the current times—have proven to be that powerful way of bringing communities together,” she said in an article on CNN.
Following her previous work in promoting equal educational opportunities across the world, Recess will strive to expand athletic opportunities to empower girls, and invest in women’s sports.
– Both under CC BY-SA 4.0 / Wikimedia
Yousafzai will work alongside her husband, Asser Malik, who has experience in Pakistan’s cricket scene, and Billie Jean King, who will serve as an advisor. Some of the early targets for investment include the WNBA and the NWSL, which could provide enough growth potential to sustain the venture far into the future.
Women’s basketball has experienced a surge of popularity in recent years. According to the NCAA, the women’s basketball tournament drew 351,777 fans in attendance (the third highest total in its history), with the 2025 Championship Game peaking at 9.9 million television viewers on ABC.
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Meanwhile, soccer’s NWSL averaged almost a million viewers of its 2024 championship game, an 18% increase over the previous year. Attendance has also jumped by more than 40%, exceeding more than 2 million total fans last season.
Sporting starts at home
Those leagues, however, aren’t the only targets for Yousafzai’s Recess initiative. She is thinking much broader, with her own experiences always present in her mind.
Yousafzai remembers growing up in Pakistan and having to stay behind with the other girls while the boys at school headed off to the cricket fields during recess.
She is hoping to change those experiences for future generations, granting better access to playing fields and athletic opportunities for girls all over the world.
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“It’s empowering girls,” Yousafzai told CNN about her goals for Recess. “It’s sending a powerful message to women, to all of us, that the sky’s the limit, and women’s sports will thrive.
“We will have more equal opportunities for women and girls, and we can imagine a world where girls are empowered.”
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