Eliminating FGM

WHO is currently supporting studies that will increase knowledge on how best to contribute to the abolition of FGM.

The studies cover three major themes:

FGM and decision-making processes

Recent reviews suggest that one reason for the limited success in eliminating FGM is that there is insufficient understanding of the decision- making process. In most countries where FGM is prevalent, more women than men support the practice. Women's attitudes to FGM are complex: in countries where the practice is almost universal, many women say it should be stopped and a large proportion of the women who say it should be stopped still ensure that their own daughters undergo the procedure.

A study in areas on the Senegal–Gambia border is looking at how decisions on FGM are made. Preliminary results show that:

The main factors promoting abandonment of FGM were: fear of legal prosecution, fear of transmitting HIV/AIDS, and direct experiences of death or adverse health outcome.

Important factors in the continuation of the practice were: peer pressure, both for adults and children, and pressure from the older generation. Marriageability did not play a central role.

Decisions on FGM of daughters are generally taken by the extended family, in which grandmother and paternal aunts exercising considerable influence. Also some adult women are subjected to FGM when marrying into groups who practice FGM. In those cases, pressure from co-wives and the man's family is important.

Some information from the first phase of this study can be found in: Are there "stages of change" in the practice of female genital cutting?: qualitative research findings from Senegal and the Gambia - African Journal of Reproductive Health 2006; 10 [2]: 57-71

Community interventions to eradicate FGM

An operations research study has been designed to introduce a combination of community-based interventions that have been shown to contribute to the abandonment of FGM. An extensive review of interventions has shown that activities such as community awareness-raising, promotion of intergenerational dialogue, and other social mobilization activities can contribute to behaviour change. The study will start in Burkina Faso and Sudan in 2007.

FGM and sexuality

In the first half of 2006 the Programme issued a call for proposals for research on “the role of female sexuality in women’s continued support of FGM”. Specifically, the research should examine how sociocultural beliefs about, among other factors, female sexuality, sexual morality and femininity affect women’s support of FGM and also how interventions should best be designed to induce women to withdraw their support for the practice. HRP received 30 research proposals, of which two have been selected for funding. For reference see call for proposals (Call for proposals is closed)
Reference:
(1) WHO, http://www.who.int/reproductive-health/fgm/eliminating.htm

What will it take to stop FGM?

As long as women have no property or ownership rights, they cannot control their bodies and lives. It is obvious that it is in the economic interest of every African man to continue FGM. And because there is a global mutual support system among men (though it is never discussed), most men in all societies do not speak against practices to control women, let alone work effectively to stop them. Evidence of this complicity is seen in the failure of the vast number of international organizations such as WHO, UNICEF, and UNDP to do anything effective to stop this butchery. It is absolutely certain that if similar tortures were inflicted on boy children the whole world would rise up to stop it by any and all means.

Although FGM has been classified as a human rights violation by the U.N. Office of Human Rights in Geneva and at the 1993 U.N. Human Rights Conference in Vienna, and medicalization of FGM is a criminal offense and against the statutes of most national and international medical associations in much of the world, the means to globally carry out a ban on FGM in any form is lacking.

In spite of the historic 1948 document the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which set the standards for the achievement of human rights and which has had a powerful influence on the development of contemporary international law; in spite of the U.N.'s 1952 Convention on the Political Rights of Women; in spite of the U.N.'s 1962 Convention on Consent to Marriage, Minimum Age for Marriage, and Registration of Marriages; in spite of the U.N.'s 1959 Declaration of the Rights of the Child and the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child (see Dianne Tangel-Cate's article on page 5 and David Gallup's article on page 7); and in spite of the U.N.'s 1967 Declaration on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, women and girl children are the victims of continuing and flagrant violations of their human rights. The incomprehensible part of all this is that most of the the countries that allow FGM have ratified these conventions.

As is continually pointed out, the U.N. has no enforcement powers nor will the nation-states willingly "give up" male control of women and children. Only with a World Court of Law will there be protection for the oppressed of the world.

Reference:
(1) By Marcia L. Mason, http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.worldservice.org/issues/junjul96/fgm.gif&imgrefurl=http://www.worldservice.org/issues/junjul96/fgm.html&h=774&w=544&sz=102&hl=en&start=31&um=1&tbnid=DWNNio99kLZeIM:&tbnh=142&tbnw=100&prev=/images%3Fq%3DFGM%26start%3D20%26ndsp%3D20%26svnum%3D10%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN

The key to the problem

In the rural economy of Africa, which includes a traditional caste system, "women are chattel and the wholly owned property of men," according to Fran Hosken. In other words, they are slaves! They are traded or sold (by bride-price) between men, and they and their children are used as the male-owned agricultural labor force. Most women have no access to health care and are completely ignorant about the most basic and vital functions of their bodies, even though many in Africa go through 10 or more pregnancies-often until they die in childbirth. But then, ignorance is a means of control as is FGM, wife abuse and rape-traditional rights of African men. Educated young women in the cities who are self-supporting often remain single to avoid male abuse.

What drives women to continue FGM? Fear! In a society where a woman has no economic rights-cannot own property, is not allowed to work for herself, has little access to education-marriage is all-important. And when the controlling gender insists FGM is an essential requirement for marriage in all African societies where it is practiced, the only recourse is to submit or escape.

Reference:
(1) By Marcia L. Mason, http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.worldservice.org/issues/junjul96/fgm.gif&imgrefurl=http://www.worldservice.org/issues/junjul96/fgm.html&h=774&w=544&sz=102&hl=en&start=31&um=1&tbnid=DWNNio99kLZeIM:&tbnh=142&tbnw=100&prev=/images%3Fq%3DFGM%26start%3D20%26ndsp%3D20%26svnum%3D10%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN

Testimony

'I was genitally mutilated at the age of ten. I was told by my late grandmother that they were taking me down to the river to perform a certain ceremony, and afterwards I would be given a lot of food to eat. As an innocent child, I was led like a sheep to be slaughtered.

Once I entered the secret bush, I was taken to a very dark room and undressed. I was blindfolded and stripped naked. I was then carried by two strong women to the site for the operation. I was forced to lie flat on my back by four strong women, two holding tight to each leg. Another woman sat on my chest to prevent my upper body from moving. A piece of cloth was forced in my mouth to stop me screaming. I was then shaved.

When the operation began, I put up a big fight. The pain was terrible and unbearable. During this fight, I was badly cut and lost blood. All those who took part in the operation were half-drunk with alcohol. Others were dancing and singing, and worst of all, had stripped naked.

I was genitally mutilated with a blunt penknife.

After the operation, no one was allowed to aid me to walk. The stuff they put on my wound stank and was painful. These were terrible times for me. Each time I wanted to urinate, I was forced to stand upright. The urine would spread over the wound and would cause fresh pain all over again. Sometimes I had to force myself not to urinate for fear of the terrible pain. I was not given any anaesthetic in the operation to reduce my pain, nor any antibiotics to fight against infection. Afterwards, I haemorrhaged and became anaemic. This was attributed to witchcraft. I suffered for a long time from acute vaginal infections.''

Hannah Koroma, Sierra Leone

Why FGM is practised?

Cultural identity

''Of course I shall have them circumcised exactly as their parents, grandparents and sisters were circumcised. This is our custom.''

An Egyptian woman, talking about her young daughters [4]Custom and tradition are by far the most frequently cited reasons for FGM. Along with other physical or behavioural characteristics, FGM defines who is in the group. This is most obvious where mutilation is carried out as part of the initiation into adulthood.

Jomo Kenyatta, the late President of Kenya, argued that FGM was inherent in the initiation which is in itself an essential part of being Kikuyu, to such an extent that ''abolition... will destroy the tribal system''.[2] A study in Sierra Leone reported a similar feeling about the social and political cohesion promoted by the Bundo and Sande secret societies, who carry out initiation mutilations and teaching.

Many people in FGM-practising societies, especially traditional rural communities, regard FGM as so normal that they cannot imagine a woman who has not undergone mutilation. Others are quoted as saying that only outsiders or foreigners are not genitally mutilated. A girl cannot be considered an adult in a FGM-practising society unless she has undergone FGM.

Gender identity

FGM is often deemed necessary in order for a girl to be considered a complete woman, and the practice marks the divergence of the sexes in terms of their future roles in life and marriage. The removal of the clitoris and labia - viewed by some as the ''male parts'' of a woman's body - is thought to enhance the girl's femininity, often synonymous with docility and obedience. It is possible that the trauma of mutilation may have this effect on a girl's personality. If mutilation is part of an initiation rite, then it is accompanied by explicit teaching about the woman's role in her society.

''We are circumcised and insist on circumcising our daughters so that there is no mixing between male and female... An uncircumcised woman is put to shame by her husband, who calls her 'you with the clitoris'. People say she is like a man. Her organ would prick the man...''

An Egyptian woman [3]

Control of women's sexuality and reproductive functions

''Circumcision makes women clean, promotes virginity and chastity and guards young girls from sexual frustration by deadening their sexual appetite.''

Mrs Njeri, a defender of female genital mutilation in Kenya[4]

In many societies, an important reason given for FGM is the belief that it reduces a woman's desire for sex, therefore reducing the chance of sex outside marriage. The ability of unmutilated women to be faithful through their own choice is doubted. In many FGM-practising societies, it is extremely difficult, if not impossible, for a woman to marry if she has not undergone mutilation. In the case of infibulation, a woman is ''sewn up'' and ''opened'' only for her husband. Societies that practise infibulation are strongly patriarchal. Preventing women from indulging in ''illegitimate'' sex, and protecting them from unwilling sexual relations, are vital because the honour of the whole family is seen to be dependent on it. Infibulation does not, however, provide a guarantee against ''illegitimate'' sex, as a woman can be ''opened'' and ''closed'' again.

In some cultures, enhancement of the man's sexual pleasure is a reason cited for mutilation. Anecdotal accounts, however, suggest that men prefer unmutilated women as sexual partners.

Beliefs about hygiene, aesthetics and healthCleanliness and hygiene feature consistently as justifications for FGM. Popular terms for mutilation are synonymous with purification (tahara in Egypt, tahur in Sudan), or cleansing (sili-ji among the Bambarra, an ethnic group in Mali). In some FGM-practising societies, unmutilated women are regarded as unclean and are not allowed to handle food and water.

Connected with this is the perception in FGM-practising communities that women's unmutilated genitals are ugly and bulky. In some cultures, there is a belief that a woman's genitals can grow and become unwieldy, hanging down between her legs, unless the clitoris is excised. Some groups believe that a woman's clitoris is dangerous and that if it touches a man's penis he will die. Others believe that if the baby's head touches the clitoris during childbirth, the baby will die.

Ideas about the health benefits of FGM are not unique to Africa. In 19th Century England, there were debates as to whether clitoridectomy could cure women of ''illnesses'' such as hysteria and ''excessive'' masturbation. Clitoridectomy continued to be practised for these reasons until well into this century in the USA. However, health benefits are not the most frequently cited reason for mutilation in societies where it is still practised; where they are, it is more likely to be because mutilation is part of an initiation where women are taught to be strong and uncomplaining about illness. Some societies where FGM is practised believe that it enhances fertility, the more extreme believing that an unmutilated woman cannot conceive. In some cultures it is believed that clitoridectomy makes childbirth safer.

Religion

FGM predates Islam and is not practised by the majority of Muslims, but has acquired a religious dimension. Where it is practised by Muslims, religion is frequently cited as a reason. Many of those who oppose mutilation deny that there is any link between the practise and religion, but Islamic leaders are not unanimous on the subject. The Qur'an does not contain any call for FGM, but a few hadith (sayings attributed to the Prophet Muhammad) refer to it. In one case, in answer to a question put to him by 'Um 'Attiyah (a practitioner of FGM), the Prophet is quoted as saying ''reduce but do not destroy''.

Mutilation has persisted among some converts to Christianity. Christian missionaries have tried to discourage the practice, but found it to be too deep rooted. In some cases, in order to keep converts, they have ignored and even condoned the practice.

FGM was practised by the Falasha (Ethiopian Jews), but it is not known if the practise has persisted following their emigration to Israel. The remainder of the FGM-practising community follow traditional Animist religions.

Reference:
(1) http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/ENGACT770061997
(2) Kenyatta, J., Facing Mount Kenya: The Tribal Life of the Kikuyu, Secker and Warburg, London, 1938.
(3) Assaad, M.B., ibid.
(4) Katumba, R., ''Kenyan Elders Defend Circumcision'', Development Forum, September, 1990, p. 17.