PRESERVING THE DIGNITY AND HUMAN RIGHTS OF WOMEN

Female Genital Mutilation, an acknowledged rite of passage in some societies is a topic some of us seem to prefer to be oblivious of. We know it exists in our country and in other parts of the world, know of its horrors but for some interesting reasons have distanced ourselves from discussing it. I was no exception until somewhere in 2001 when I read Fauziyah Kassindja’s “Do They Hear You When You Cry” co-authored with Layli Miller Bashir which left a lasting impression on me.

Prior to reading her book I had a fair idea what FGM was as a result of reading articles about the issue and watching documentaries on how it’s done – horrifying scenes which took literally months to drive out of my shocked brain. The book looks at the sheltered life Fauziyah Kassindja had in Togo with her parents until her father died. Life becomes very difficult for her and so to avoid being made to go through the circumcision and married off to be the fourth wife of an elderly man, she flees to the United States to seek asylum.

According to World Health Organization, FGM involves the partial or total removal of the external female genitalia for non-medical reasons, a practice that is more often targeted at underage and vulnerable girls. Although there are cases of FGM in Asia, Europe and the Middle East the vast majority of cases happens in twenty eight African countries. One hundred and forty million girls and women worldwide are currently living with the consequences of the practice. Although FGM is thought to be based on religious practices – especially Islam – it must be noted that that is not the case. There is no correlation between FGM and Islam or any other religion for that matter. It is purely a cultural or societal practice.

In Ghana, FGM is practiced among some of the ethnic groups in the northern parts of our country. While some of the girls willingly accept to go through the procedure others are made to do it against their will. Also, due to the fact that the practice is unacceptable in many parts of our country, these girls and women have to do it away from the sanitised areas of hospitals and other controlled spaces as is the case with new-born males who have to undergo similar procedures. Instead, it’s done by older women in the community with unsterile blades and other crude cutting instruments.

The procedure itself is rather abrupt. The young girl to be circumcised is pinned down on a mat or the floor by other women, her external genitalia washed with water and the circumcision carried out. The dangers associated with this procedure include excessive bleeding, urinary problems and infections, complications at child birth and of course the psychological damage it occassions in some girls. Women who have undergone FGM have difficult childbirth sometimes resulting in the death of the baby, mother or both. They bleed excessively during child birth as a result of the point of cut or “wound” (previously healed) erupting from the force of pushing their babies.

You would expect that as a result of the physical pain experienced by these women and the strong advocacy against FGM the practice should be completely eradicated. Unfortunately that is not the case. Most women after having gone through the procedure still insist their daughters and grand-daughters go through same because it is a rite of passage without which they would somehow not be considered “real women”. The rationale behind the practice is to make women less promiscuous and more fertile. Additionally, they consider the external genitalia “ugly” and unfeminine hence circumcising them would make them “clean” and more feminine.

An article I read sometime back in The Mirror tried to justify the practice further by arguing that FGM is no different from what women subject themselves daily to so as to enhance their beauty. By women applying chemicals to their hair, bleaching their skins, tanning them, augmenting their breasts, nose, and all other “beauty” procedures, they are no different from the woman who decides to have FGM performed on her. This was in response to the government trying to implement laws against the practice. To the author of the article it was an infringement of rights of these women. But how can we take this (male) author seriously, when he has very little chance of going through this himself? After all, FGM is performed so as to make these women more acceptable in their communities as some men refuse to marry women who have not been circumcised.

One thing the writer failed to realize is that women who choose to have chemicals applied to their hair, their breasts augmented, or get nose jobs do not do so against their will. FGM on the other hand does not give women in the practicing communities the option to decline. They either have it done or be forever shunned. Some of these girls flee from their homes in the North to seek refuge in Southern parts of our country with others like Fauziyah who are compelled to seek refuge in other parts of the world. For these women to resort to such measures so as to avoid being victims gives one a sense of how serious, terrible and inhumane the practice is.

FGM in my opinion is unequivocally cruel and a painful procedure any girl or woman on this earth can be subjected to. It is an extreme form of discrimination against women and a violation of their human rights. The issue of FGM is a delicate one as it inflames passions in people who are against it (like me) and those who staunchly defend it. Regardless I believe women should ultimately have the right to accept or reject it. They should never be made to do it against their will. In December 2012 the UN General Assembly accepted a resolution to eliminate the practice. Let your voice be heard. Say no to FGM especially to those who must undergo it against their will.