Zero tolerance - fgm

Yesterday was International Day for Zero Tolerance towards Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C). I've always known that this barbaric practice happens across the world and have heard lots of horrid stories on women's hour - my former radio 4 source of info. But it is only since moving here and living and working in Kenya and Somalia that I've begun to understand the extent of this tradition and the devastating impact it has on women and girls. And so yesterday I got as close as I could to joining a DFID thunderclap on twitter to raise awareness of the issue. Not being a member of twitterati I had to join via Facebook. But the support was there.

FGM/C is one the worst kinds of violence against girls and women, mostly done on children when they cannot consent to an act which causes them lasting psychological trauma and suffering. Globally, more than 125 million girls and women have undergone FGM/C and 30 million girls are at risk of being cut over the next decade. Girls and women around the world have suffered a lifetime of damage, sometimes even death, as a result of this practice. And reading the graphic descriptions in a Somali woman's autobiography recently of her childhood cutting, the slow recovery and the pain of her first experience of sex was a truly uncomfortable experience.

For those of you interested in the stats here are a few from here. In Somalia 98% of women have undergone FGM/C and in Kenya the figure is at more than 27% across the country, but one third of women in some provinces. Out of the 42 ethnic groups in Kenya, only five communities (Luo, Luhya, Pokomo, Teso & Turkana) report that they do not practice FGM/C. Studies suggest that FGM/C is far more prevalent among Somali (98%), the Kisii (96%), and the Maasai (73%).

But there is hope for change. The Kenya Demographic and Health Survey (KDHS 2008 – 2009) indicates a decline in the percentage of girls and women (aged 15-49) who have undergone FGM/C from 38 % in 1998, to 32 % in 2003, to 27 % in 2008-2009. The KDHS data also shows that while 49% of older women aged 45-49 years had undergone FGM/C, only 15% of women aged 15 to 19 years had been affected; that rural women are more likely to be circumcised than urban women; and that there is a relationship between education level and circumcision status. 54% of women with no education report that they are circumcised compared with only 19 percent of those with at least some secondary education. So a growing middle class in Kenya with higher levels of education and increasing urbanisation means this steady decrease is likely to continue in Kenya at least.





Anne