What is female genital mutilation that Gambia wants to decriminalise? Which countries allow it?

Gambia could overturn a historic ban on female genital cutting. On Monday (18 March), lawmakers in the small West African nation referred the attempted repeal of the 2015 ban to a parliamentary committee for review.

A final vote on a Bill to overturn the ban could be held in the coming weeks and months. Only five of the country’s 58 lawmakers are women, with men at the forefront of discussions in Parliament. If passed, Gambia would become the first country in the world to reverse a ban on female genital mutilation (FGM).

Although the West African nation prohibited cutting in 2015, the ban came into force only last year. As per New York Times (NYT), a powerful imam in the Muslim-majority country has been spearheading the demand to repeal the ban, claiming the practice is a religious obligation.

Gambian activists fear a rollback would undo years of efforts to protect girls and women better, reported Associated Press (AP).

What is FGM? Why does Gambia want to overturn a ban on the practice? Is it still prevalent in other countries? Let’s take a closer look.

What is FGM?

Female genital mutilation or female genital cutting is a centuries-old ritual steeped in ideas of sexual purity, obedience and control, noted NYT.

It involves the deliberate cutting or changing of a female’s external genitalia. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), FGM refers to “all procedures involving partial or total removal of the female external genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons.”

Mostly young girls between infancy and adolescence, and sometimes adult women, are subjected to the cutting. Over 230 million (23 crore) girls and women around the world have been cut, a rise from 200 million (20 crore) eight years ago, the United Nations Children’s Fund reported earlier in March.

FGM is internationally recognised as a violation of the human rights of girls and women. It can lead to severe pain, excessive bleeding, urinary problems, infections, and even death, as per the WHO.

Its long-term effects can entail urinary tract infections, menstrual problems, reduced sexual satisfaction, and heightened risk of childbirth complications, along with depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder and low self-esteem, the UN health agency noted.

A study last year found that female genital cutting was the leading cause of death in girls and young women in African countries where it is practised.

Why is FGM practised?

The most common reasons to justify FGM include social acceptance, religion, and a way to prepare a girl for “adulthood and marriage” by controlling her sexuality to encourage “premarital virginity and marital fidelity”, as per the WHO.

There are no health benefits to female circumcision. However, the communities practising it believe women’s vaginas need to be cut and consider those who do not undergo the procedure as “unhealthy, unclean or unworthy”, reported BBC.

As FGM is often carried out on minors, it is also seen as a form of child abuse.

The procedure is often done by traditional community practitioners with tools like razor blades, or sometimes by health workers.

Omnia Ibrahim, a blogger and filmmaker from Egypt, told BBC in 2019 that FGM damages women’s relationships and their feelings about themselves. She said she dealt with the mental health problems of FGM her whole adult life.

Omnia said her community had taught her “that a body means sex and that sex is a sin. To my mind my body had become a curse”.

“I used to always ask myself: did I hate sex because I was taught to be afraid of it, or do I really not care for it?”

Why does Gambia want to repeal FGM ban?

FGM was banned in 2015 under dictator ex-president Yahya Jammeh, with Gambia imposing steep fines and jail sentences on violators. However, the ban has received pushback since President Adama Barrow came to power in 2017.

In Gambia, FGM involves removing the clitoris and labia minora of girls in the 10-15 age group.

Lawmaker Almameh Gibba presented the bill to repeal the FGM ban earlier in March, saying the ban violates people’s rights to practice their culture and religion, reported Reuters.

The bill, which says it “seeks to uphold religious purity and safeguard cultural norms and values”, has the backing of religious conservatives in Gambia.

When three women were fined last August for carrying out FGM on eight infant girls, Gambia’s Supreme Islamic Council responded to the verdict by saying that female circumcision was one of the “virtues” of Islam, reported Reuters.

On Monday, the Gambian lawmakers voted 42 to four to send the bill to a national committee for further consideration before a final vote.

Speaking to AP, Jaha Dukureh, the founder of Safe Hands for Girls, a local group wanting to end FGM, said that if the ban is overturned, the next target would be other laws safeguarding women’s rights.

“If they succeed with this repeal, we know that they might come after the child marriage law and even the domestic violence law. This is not about religion but the cycle of controlling women and their bodies,” she said.

As per UN figures, the prevalence of FGM among girls in Gambia saw a sharp decline after the ban.

“If the law is reversed in Gambia, there is a risk that the advocacy efforts in subsequent countries … will fail or go back,” Caroline Lagat, a programme officer at the advocacy group Equality Now, told Reuters.

Which countries still practice FGM?

It is still practised in about 30 countries in Africa and West Asia or the Middle East.

African countries account for 144 million cases of FGM , followed by more than 80 million in Asia and over six million in West Asia, reported Reuters.

The traumatic ritual is also practiced in some countries in Latin America and among immigrant populations living in Western Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand, BBC reported citing the United Nations.

According to UNICEF, female genital cutting is still a widespread practice in Somalia,  Guinea and Djibouti, affecting 90 per cent population or more.

Even though more than half of 92 countries practicing FGM have banned it, the ritual is still prevalent there, Reuters reported citing the advocacy group Equality Now.

With inputs from agencies