Female genital mutilation
|
Definition
Defined in 1997 by the WHO, UNICEF and UNFPA as the "partial or total removal of the external female genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons."
Areas
Believed to be most common in 27 countries in Africa, as well as in Indonesia, Yemen and Iraqi Kurdistan
Numbers
At least 200 million women and girls in those 30 countries as of 2016
Age
Days after birth to puberty
Prevalence
Ages 15–49
Source: UNICEF, February 2016
Somalia (98%)
Guinea (97%)
Djibouti (93%)
Sierra Leone (90%)
Mali (89%)
Egypt (87%)
Sudan (87%)
Eritrea (83%)
Burkina Faso (76%)
Gambia (75%)
Ethiopia (74%)
Mauritania (69%)
Liberia (50%)
Guinea-Bissau (45%)
Chad (44%)
Côte d'Ivoire (38%)
Nigeria (25%)
Senegal (25%)
Central African Republic (24%)
Kenya (21%)
Yemen (19%)
United Republic of Tanzania (15%)
Benin (9%)
Iraq (8%)
Togo (5%)
Ghana (4%)
Niger (2%)
Uganda (1%)
Cameroon (1%)
Ages 0–14
Source: UNICEF, February 2016
Gambia (56%)
Mauritania (54%)
Indonesia (49%, 0–11)
Guinea (46%)
Eritrea (33%)
Sudan (32%)
Guinea-Bissau (30%)
Ethiopia (24%)
Nigeria (17%)
Yemen (15%)
Egypt (14%)
Burkina Faso (13%)
Sierra Leone (13%)
Senegal (13%)
Côte d'Ivoire (10%)
Kenya (3%)
Uganda (1%)
Central African Republic (1%)
Ghana (1%)
Togo (0.3%)
Benin (0.2%)
Legislation
Further information
The following practising countries have outlawed or restricted FGM (an asterisk indicates a ban):
Benin (2003)
Burkina Faso (1996*)
Central African Republic (1966, amended 1996)
Chad (2003)
Côte d'Ivoire (1998)
Djibouti (1995, amended 2009*)
Egypt (2008*)
Eritrea (2007*)
Ethiopia (2004*)
Ghana (1994, amended 2007)
Guinea (1965, amended 2000*)
Guinea-Bissau (2011*)
Iraqi Kurdistan (2011)
Kenya (2001, amended 2011*)
Mauritania (2005)
Niger (2003)
Nigeria (2015*)
Senegal (1999*)
Somalia (2012*)
Sudan, some states (2008–2009)
Tanzania (1998)
Togo (1998)
Uganda (2010*)
Yemen (2001).
Female genital mutilation (FGM), also known as female genital cutting and female circumcision, is the ritual removal of some or all of the external female genitalia. Typically carried out by a traditional circumciser using a blade, with or without anaesthesia, FGM is concentrated in 27 African countries, Indonesia, Yemen and Iraqi Kurdistan, and found elsewhere in Asia, the Middle East and among diaspora communities around the world. It is conducted from days after birth to puberty and beyond. In half the countries for which national figures are available, most girls are cut before the age of five.The procedures differ according to the ethnic group. They include removal of the clitoral hood and clitoral glans, removal of the inner labia, and in the most severe form (known as infibulation) removal of the inner and outer labia and closure of the vulva. In this last procedure, a small hole is left for the passage of urine and menstrual fluid; the vagina is opened for intercourse and opened further for childbirth. Health effects depend on the procedure, but can include recurrent infections, chronic pain, cysts, an inability to get pregnant, complications during childbirth, and fatal bleeding. There are no known health benefits.The practice is rooted in gender inequality, attempts to control women's sexuality, and ideas about purity, modesty and aesthetics. It is usually initiated and carried out by women, who see it as a source of honour and fear that failing to have their daughters and granddaughters cut will expose the girls to social exclusion. At least 200 million women and girls in the key 30 countries have experienced FGM as of 2016. The United Nations Population Fund estimated in 2010 that 20 percent of affected women had been infibulated, a practice found largely in northeast Africa, particularly Djibouti, Eritrea, Somalia and northern Sudan.FGM has been outlawed or restricted in most of the countries in which it occurs, but the laws are poorly enforced. There have been international efforts since the 1970s to persuade practitioners to abandon it, and in 2012 the United Nations General Assembly, recognizing FGM as a human-rights violation, voted unanimously to intensify those efforts. The opposition is not without its critics, particularly among anthropologists. Eric Silverman writes that FGM has become one of anthropology's central moral topics, raising difficult questions about cultural relativism, tolerance and the universality of human rights.
^ "Classification of female genital mutilation", Geneva: World Health Organization, 2014 (hereafter WHO 2014).
^ Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting: A Statistical Overview and Exploration of the Dynamics of Change, New York: United Nations Children's Fund, July 2013 (hereafter UNICEF 2013), pp. 5, 26–27.
^ a b c d e Cite error: The named reference UNICEF2016 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ a b UNICEF 2013, p. 50.
^ UNICEF 2013, p. 9; for the bans, Joint Programme on Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting: Accelerating Change, New York: UNFPA–UNICEF, Annual Report 2012 (hereafter UNFPA–UNICEF 2012), p. 12.
^ Cite error: The named reference Nigeriaban was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ For the circumcisers, blade/razor, anaesthesia, UNICEF 2013, pp. 2, 44–46; for the 29 countries, pp. 26–27.
^ Jasmine Abdulcadira, et al, "Care of women with female genital mutilation/cutting", Swiss Medical Weekly, 6(14), January 2011. doi:10.4414/smw.2011.13137 PMID 21213149
^ "Female genital mutilation", New York: World Health Organization, February 2014.
^ UNICEF 2013, p. 15.
^ Nahid F. Toubia, Eiman Hussein Sharief, "Female genital mutilation: have we made progress?", International Journal of Gynecology & Obstetrics, 82(3), September 2003, pp. 251–261. doi:10.1016/S0020-7292(03)00229-7 PMID 14499972
^ Cite error: The named reference UNFPATypeIIIestimate was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ Cite error: The named reference Yoder2008p13 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ For countries in which it is outlawed or restricted, UNICEF 2013, p. 8; for enforcement, UNFPA–UNICEF 2012, p. 48.
^ Cite error: The named reference UN was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ Eric K. Silverman, "Anthropology and Circumcision", Annual Review of Anthropology, 33, 2004 (pp. 419–445), pp. 420, 427.
Cite error: There are tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=n}} template (see the help page).
|
|
Created By:
System
|
|
|
|
|