Last month outgoing Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan signed a law formally banning female genital mutilation (FGM). Despite the progressive action, many say that it will take years for FGM practices to cease due its cultural pervasiveness.
The United Nations defines FGM as any “harmful procedures to the female genitalia for non-medical purposes, for example: pricking, piercing, incising, scraping and cauterization.” The practice of FGM is often done without anaesthesia, medical professionals or proper equipment. An incomplete list of potential effects of the procedure includes infection, infertility, heavy bleeding, cysts, complicated childbirth, and chronic pain.
“With such a huge population, Nigeria’s vote in favour of women and girls is hugely important,” FGM programme manager of Equality Now Mary Wandia told the Guardian. “We hope, too, that the other African countries which have yet to ban FGM – including Liberia, Sudan and Mali, among others – do so immediately to give all girls a basic level of protection.”
According to a 2013 UNICEF report, about 125 million girls and women in the world undergo FGM procedures. FGM is most common in Africa, where it is known to be practiced in 29 countries. A handful of Asian, Middle Eastern, and South American countries regularly practice FGM, and it can be found in some western countries including Canada, Australia, and the United States among diaspora populations.
“It is crucial that we scale up efforts to change traditional cultural views that underpin violence against women,” Stella Mukasa, Director of Gender, Violence and Rights at the International Center for Research on Women wrote on the topic of FGM. “Doing so involves laws and policies, as well as community level engagement and programs that work to empower girls directly.”
Media Resources: World Health Organization (WHO) 2008; United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) 07/13; The Guardian 05/29/15; Equality Now; The Guardian 05/20/15
