Female Genital Mutilation: Women’s Oppression
Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is performed as part of a rite of passage marking the transition from childhood to woman- hood and it goes hand in hand with child marriage. According to the Kenya Demographic Health Survey of 2014, the prevalence of female circumcision varies widely by background characteristics. 21% of women report that they themselves are circumcised. The practice appears to be less common among younger women and is perhaps on the decline; 11% of women age 15-19 are circumcised compared with more than 20% among those over age 30. More than 40% of women age 45-49 are circumcised. Rural women 26% are more likely to have been circumcised compared with their urban counterparts 14%. Overall, Female circumcision is declining slowly over time. The 1998 KDHS reported 38% of women were circumcised. This declined to 32% in 2003, 27% in 2008-09, and 21% in 2014. However, it should be noted that FGM is still far more prevalent among certain ethic groups (nearly universal among Somali and Kisii-98% and 96% respectively).
The decline can be attributed to the coming into effect of the FGM Prohibition Act on 30th November 2011. The law is a powerful way of creating social change, by showing that “culture” cannot be used to trump women’s rights and by telling communities and the country at large that the government has made a violence-free society for women an unequivocal goal. The establishment of the anti FGM board (Constitutional body), by the government is a clear pointer that FGM eradication is at the center of its war against the vice.
To understand not only the extent of the practice but also to discern where and how the practice is changing evidence must be adduced for many reasons. It helps us understand the social dynamics that perpetuate FGM and those that contribute to its decline. Only with such knowledge can policies and programmes be effectively designed, implemented and monitored to promote its abandonment. One feature of the drawback is the medical complications, which survivors have to live with and the risk that the practice is deeply entrenched in the culture with some claiming that even their religion supports it though this is disputable.
Criminalization approach only is not enough meaning laws alone are unlikely to change traditions and practice. To have a sustainable impact on the prevalence of FGM, multifaceted programs at the community level must complement the laws. Programs that employ a “bottom-up” approach have shown to be most effective. Interventions must also include human rights based and public health approaches, depending on the target community. Strategic intergender and intergenerational dialogues, community skills building and empowerment, engaging with cultural and religious leaders and advocating for improvement of services for the protection, support and access to justice by FGM survivors should be integral in any programming focused on ending FGM and child marriage.
While a number of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) are working to inform the public about the health hazards posed by FGM and the fact that it violates the human rights of women, public actions to end the practice are currently few and far between, somehow uncoordinated and fairly ineffective. Sadly, rural communities in particular cling on to the tradition but the essential reason for the perpetuation of the practice lies in the social pressure resulting from men’s attitudes towards women’s sexuality. For this reason, initiatives aimed at curbing FGM and child marriages, should engage with men in awareness creation, capacity building, lobbying and advocacy to eradicate the practice. Consequently, religious and cultural leaders should play a vanguard role in educating communities to stop the practice since they are gatekeepers to cultural and religious norms, which are often used to justify FGM and child marriages.
The abandonment of FGM should not be bordered on condemnation of local culture but as a better way to attain the core positive values that underpin tradition and religion, including “not hurting others”. Social dynamics should be leveraged to help communities better protect the women and girls since this approach can contribute to the larger issues of ending violence against women and children and confronting gender inequalities.
