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| Definition | "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).[1] | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Areas | Africa, Southeast Asia, Middle East, and within communities from these areas[2] | ||||
| Numbers | Over 200 million women and girls in 27 African countries; Indonesia; Iraqi Kurdistan; and Yemen (as of 2016)[3] | ||||
| Age | Days after birth to puberty[4] | ||||
| Prevalence | |||||
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Female genital mutilation (FGM), also known as female genital cutting and female circumcision,[a] is the ritual cutting or removal of some or all of the external female genitalia. The practice is found in Africa, Asia and the Middle East, and within communities from countries in which FGM is common. UNICEF estimated in 2016 that 200 million women living today in 30 countries—27 African countries, Indonesia, Iraqi Kurdistan and Yemen—have undergone the procedures.[3][6]
Typically carried out by a traditional circumciser using a blade, FGM is conducted from days after birth to puberty and beyond. In half of the countries for which national figures are available, most girls are cut before the age of five.[7] Procedures differ according to the country or ethnic group. They include removal of the clitoral hood and clitoral glans; removal of the inner labia; and removal of the inner and outer labia and closure of the vulva. In this last procedure, known as infibulation, a small hole is left for the passage of urine and menstrual fluid; the vagina is opened for intercourse and opened further for childbirth.[8]
The practice is rooted in gender inequality, attempts to control women's sexuality, and ideas about purity, modesty and beauty. 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.[9] Adverse health effects depend on the type of procedure; they can include recurrent infections, difficulty urinating and passing menstrual flow, chronic pain, the development of cysts, inability to get pregnant, complications during childbirth, and fatal bleeding.[8] There are no known health benefits.[10]
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 poorly enforced. Since 2010, the United Nations has called upon healthcare providers to stop performing all forms of the procedure, including reinfibulation after childbirth and symbolic "nicking" of the clitoral hood.[11] The opposition to the practice is not without its critics, particularly among anthropologists, who have raised difficult questions about cultural relativism and the universality of human rights.[12]
References edit
- ^ WHO 2014.
- ^ UNICEF 2013, 5.
- ^ a b c d UNICEF 2016.
- ^ UNICEF 2013, 50.
- ^ Nussbaum 1999, 119.
- ^ Rushwan, H (July 2000). "Female genital mutilation (FGM) management during pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum period". International Journal of Gynecology & Obstetrics. 70 (1): 99–104. doi:10.1016/s0020-7292(00)00237-x. ISSN 0020-7292. Archived from the original on 28 August 2021. Retrieved 5 August 2020.
- ^ For the circumcisers and blade: UNICEF 2013, 2, 44–46; for the ages: 50.
- ^ a b Abdulcadir et al. 2011.
- ^ UNICEF 2013, 15; Toubia & Sharief 2003.
- ^ WHO 2018.
- ^ UN 2010; Askew et al. 2016.
- ^ Shell-Duncan 2008, 225; Silverman 2004, 420, 427.
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