Female Gender Mutilation -By Martha Zamdai Mamza

Reporting Gender based violence, taking the aspect of female gender mutilation (FGM) as a type of gender based violence in the female gender mutilation (FGM) is a “Partial or total removal of the external female genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons” (WHO, UNICEF, and UNFPA, 1997). This act of gender based violence of female gender mutilation has no health benefits for the girls and women who become victims.

This practice is mostly carried out by traditional circumcisers, who often play other central roles in communities, such as attending childbirths. In many settings, health care providers perform FGM due to the belief that the procedure is safer when medicalized. It is mostly carried out on young girls between infancy and age 15 and occasionally on adults. It is a violation of the human rights of girls and women and WHO is opposed to all forms of FGM, and is opposed to health care providers performing FGM (medicalization of FGM).

The perpetration of such act reflects deep-rooted inequality between the sexes, and constitutes an extreme form of discrimination against women. It is nearly always carried out on minors and is a violation of the rights of children. The practice also violates a person’s rights to health, security and physical integrity, the right to be free from torture and cruelty, inhuman or degrading treatment, and the right to life when the procedure results in death. According to data found, more than 3 million girls are estimated to be at risk for FGM annually and more than 200 million girls and women alive today have been subjected to the practice, according to data from 30 countries where population data exist.

The practice is mainly concentrated in the Western, Eastern, and North-Eastern regions of Africa, in some countries the Middle East and Asia, as well as among migrants from these areas. FGM is therefore a global concern.

Female genital mutilation has 4 major types in which it is classified.

Type 1: this is the partial or total removal of the clitoral glans (the external and visible part of the clitoris, which is a sensitive part of the female genitals), and/or the prepuce/ clitoral hood (the fold of skin surrounding the clitoral glans).

Type 2: this is the partial or total removal of the clitoral glans and the labia minora (the inner folds of the vulva), with or without removal of the labia majora (the outer folds of skin of the vulva ).

Type 3: Also known as infibulation, this is the narrowing of the vaginal opening through the creation of a covering seal. The seal is formed by cutting and repositioning the labia minora, or labia majora, sometimes through stitching, with or without removal of the clitoral prepuce/clitoral hood and glans (Type I FGM).

Type 4: This includes all other harmful procedures to the female genitalia for non-medical purposes, e.g. pricking, piercing, incising, scraping and cauterizing the genital area.

There are reasons as to why female genital mutilations are performed varying from one region to another as well as over time, and include a mix of sociocultural factors within families and communities. The most commonly cited reasons are instances where FGM is a social convention (social norm), the social pressure to conform to what others do and have been doing, as well as the need to be accepted socially and the fear of being rejected by the community, are strong motivations to perpetuate the practice. In some communities, FGM is almost universally performed and unquestioned. FGM in some cases is often considered a necessary part of raising a girl, and a way to prepare her for adulthood and marriage. It is often motivated by beliefs about what is considered acceptable sexual behaviour. It aims to ensure premarital virginity and marital fidelity. FGM can be regarded in many communities as a believe to reduce a woman’s libido and therefore believed to help her resist extramarital sexual acts. When a vaginal opening is covered or narrowed (Type 3), the fear of the pain of opening it, and the fear that this will be found out, is expected to further discourage extramarital sexual intercourse among women with this type of FGM.

Also, where it is believed that being cut increases marriageability, FGM is more likely to be carried out.

FGM is associated with cultural ideals of femininity and modesty, which include the notion that girls are clean and beautiful after removal of body parts that are considered unclean, unfeminine or male.

Though no religious scripts prescribe the practice, practitioners often believe the practice has religious support. Religious leaders take varying positions with regard to FGM: some promote it, some consider it irrelevant to religion, and others contribute to its elimination. Local structures of power and authority, such as community leaders, religious leaders, circumcisers, and even some medical personnel can contribute to upholding the practice.

Likewise, when informed, they can be effective advocates for abandonment of FGM. In most societies, where FGM is practised, it is considered a cultural tradition, which is often used as an argument for its continuation. In some societies, recent adoption of the practice is linked to copying the traditions of neighbouring groups. Sometimes it has started as part of a wider religious or traditional revival movement.

FGM has serious health risk involved. It causes severe bleeding and problems urinating, and later cysts, infections, as well as complications in childbirth and increased risk of newborn deaths. It involves removing and damaging healthy and normal female genital tissue, and interferes with the natural functions of girls’ and women’s bodies. Generally speaking, risks of FGM increase with increasing severity, although all forms of FGM are associated with increased health risk. Immediate complications can include; severe pain,
excessive bleeding (haemorrhage), genital tissue swelling, fever, infections e.g., tetanus, urinary problems, wound healing problems, injury to surrounding genital tissue, shock, death. While long-term complications can include:
urinary problems (painful urination, urinary tract infections); vaginal problems (discharge, itching, bacterial vaginosis and other infections); menstrual problems (painful menstruations, difficulty in passing menstrual blood, etc.); scar tissue and keloid; sexual problems (pain during intercourse, decreased satisfaction, etc.); increased risk of childbirth complications (difficult delivery, excessive bleeding, caesarean section, need to resuscitate the baby, etc.) and newborn deaths, etc. All these are health hazards that could leave a victim of this act in a very bad shape and lost of self-worth for their bodies.

WHO has conducted a study of the economic costs of treating health complications of FGM and has found that the current costs for 27 countries where data were available totalled 1.4 billion USD during a one year period (2018). This amount is expected to rise to 2.3 billion in 30 years (2047) if FGM prevalence remains the same – corresponding to a 68% increase in the costs of inaction. However, if countries abandon FGM, these costs would decrease by 60% over the next 30 years.

There have been international efforts since the 1970s to persuade practitioners to abandon FGM, and it has been outlawed or restricted in most of the countries in which it occurs, although the laws are often poorly enforced and in In 2018, WHO launched a clinical handbook on FGM to improve knowledge, attitudes, and skills of health care providers in preventing and managing the complications of FGM.

Research shows that, if practicing communities themselves decide to abandon FGM, the practice can be eliminated very rapidly.

Possible ways to prevent female gender mutilation are educating girls on their right to decide what happens to their body, speak out about the risk and reality of FGM, change traditions with the the support of older generations, challenge the discriminatory reasons FGM is practiced, and report to legal authorities such as WHO when such an act is carried especially without the consent of the person.

Martha Zamdai Mamza
Mass Communication Department
University Of Maiduguri