Why do we insist with FGM!!

No act of violence of a human against another human or any other living creature can be justified. Nonetheless, we all somehow are exposed violence (physical, verbal, psychological, etc).

You would agree on that a violent act is even more dreadful when is committed against a family member.

My point: mistreatment and disregard suffered by women historically in different civilizations and societies start right at home, they get those from their own blood. Therefore, if we can change this, we will succeed.

Wherever illiterate women are not allowed to have a job, they are pushed into prostitution (well, they could always starve to death). Therefore the men of her family would be entitled comply with their obligation of killing her in order
to save the honor of the clan.

I chose two stories from WomenWatch related to Feminine Genital Mutilation/Cutting.

1)Cairo, March 8, 2010 EGYPT: FGM/C still widespread, says WHO-funded study

In 2008, Egypt approved a law criminalizing FGM/C with punishments ranging from three months to two years in prison, and a fine of 183 to 912 USD.
A WHO-funded study entitled Investigating Women’s Sexuality in Relation to Female Genital Mutilation in Egypt said many of those surveyed saw FGM/C as a “family affair” and a personal decision, in which the government should not interfere.
Therefore there is scepticism on “that regulations and laws recently introduced to stamp out the practice will actually succeed” the study said.
Religious leaders, both Muslims and Christians, are playing an important role fighting in FGM/C in Egypt, preaching that the practice is not related to Islam or Christianity.
However, there are conflicting views among religious leaders, according to the WHO-funded study. “This was particularly true for Muslim leaders, who are bombarded with contradictory messages from official religious scholars and so-called 'tele-sheikhs', religious figures on TV and other media,” the study said.
Finally, the Demographic Health Survey of 2008 (published in 2009) indicated that in Egypt 91 percent of women aged 15-49 were circ**cised.


….But things are changing!

2) AWASH, Ethiopia April 8, 2010 Abandoning Female Genital Cutting/Mutilation in the Afar Region of Ethiopia

This is the heart warming story of Dohra, an Afar midwife who was one of the women who practiced FGM to the girls of her own community.
Dohra was persuaded by her religious leaders to abandon FGM/C. She resolved to spare her five daughters from the ordeal of FGM/C and to stop her own practice.
Once Dohra learned that FGM doesnot have the backing of Islam and despite ridicule by some members of her community, she went ahead and joined the anti-FGM/C campaign.
Dohra has helped to create a community where girls are now members of the first Afar generation to grow up free from the harm of FGM/C.


If you are interested on this subject you can find figures about GFM in Africa here.


And here’s the classic map, warning about the fact that it is made out from uncertain estimates, which is natural as for any other sexual taboo.

Remarkable as well is that FGM/C represents also a big problem in the "first -class- world":

From Religious Tolerance: “Legislation against FGM in US and Europe can be counter-productive in some cases. It might force the practice deeply underground. Women may not seek medical care later in life because their parents might be charged.

The operation can be life threatening if performed by untrained individuals; if the operation is botched, the parents may be reluctant to take the child to a hospital out of fear of being criminally charged with child abuse.

On the other hand, [the existence of]laws indicate that a government has taken a stand against FGM. This, and potential penalties, may well cause some parents to decide against having their daughter(s) mutilated”

Please visit also Waris Dirie’s Foundation where it is remarked that “FGM is still not considered to be a European problem and victims are usually approached in the health sector or by authorities in an inadequate way, ignorance prevails”…..all around

Back to Africa, I found a very interesting article from the African Journal of Reproductive Health where after 2 years of interviews for a study in Sudan
“the main results showed that the overall understanding of the perceptions
and experiences was that both the women and the men were victims of the
consequences of FGC (FGM/C) and RI (Reinfibulation after giving birth!!). Regarding victimisation, both women and men clearly expressed how they experienced personal suffering due to the health consequences of FGC and
RI. Both genders blamed the other for the continuation of the practices,
but neither of them saw themselves as in position to really be able to
change anything”.

Seems like we are getting somewhere…….The myth of Men’s preference for infibulated brides is falling apart. Actually, African guys from FGM/C communities get to know very little about this practice, they get to their Honeymoon ignorant of what they are going to find, men regard this
subject as a “women’s affair”…..

…Now it is clear that in this problem there are components of social structures and power relations, stigma……and also, the least but most important: the economic component.

Another fragment from the study in Sudan: “The role of maternalism in FGC (prolonged by RI) in Sudan could be understood in relation to both the overall patriarchal context and the subordination between older and younger women and between mothers and daughters. Al-Sa?dawi describes what it is like to grow up as an Arabic woman: "But my mother rules over my life, my future, and my body, even down to the locks of my hair" (p.116 ).35 These unequal power relations embedded in the maternalistic (matriarchilist) relations might contribute to sustaining the traditions of FGC and RI”.

So, one would say that there is definitely a gender Power Relation: Women (mothers) tyrannising their daughters and teaching their sons that infibulation is a religious obligation as it is part of tradition, it is their culture! (more on harmful traditional practices here).

Then stigmatisation joins easily to the cocktail as it is also human nature to discriminate those who do not “fit” within the parameters accepted by the majority of a population.

Now, the economic component in my opinion determines the prevalence of FGM/C as it determines the prevalence of many other dreadful practices such as child prostitution. I will try to make my case:

Many women in these FGM/C countries are not allowed to work, I mean to have a job (economic retribution in exchange for an activity carried out outside the household). These women work at home to sustain the economy of their family and their entire community.

Currently, even in developed countries domestic work is not really regarded as a real job.

These women have to get married at some point in their life, they are meant to be transferred to another family (to work for and with that family) because their husbands are supposedly the ones who will provide for them. In many places the mindset is that if a woman is not infibulated she simply will not have the right to get married!!

If a woman does not marry she becomes an economic burden for her family. No objection to this fact. Women are regarded as burden so much that they are often victims of sex-selective abortion and female infanticide.

Hence, for economic reasons (of time, dignity, money and blood) a girl does what she is told and…gives up her dignity at home.

What would YOU do on these girls place?

What would you do to CHANGE this situation?


Ideas and comments very welcome, thanks