For up to date information, research and news on FGM, please visit www.forwarduk.org.uk - and if you care about this issue, please consider getting involved in some form.
Personally, I would love Avaaz to campaign on this issue because there needs to be much more awareness about it, and it is only through education and advocacy that we will begin to get a real shift in this complex practice. If Avaaz's followers chose to make this an issue, then it could be taken much more seriously around the world.
That's the power of the network today - I'm a fan and supporter of Avaaz - and I think there's an interesting debate about whether they respond to their members issues or set their own agenda.... Read More
Ricken is right to an extent, in the original quote - FGM currently would come way down people's priority lists. It's just too taboo and difficult to touch.
However, if Avaaz chose to campaign on FGM, the awareness raised would be remarkable - and then this issue might get the level of funding needed (which, let's face it comes from the West) to make an impact at any serious level. Meanwhile, those 3 million girls a year keep on getting cut.
A multi-level approach is needed - at a community level to explain the health impacts, at a national level to ensure that countries see this as illegal and also adopt enforcement, at a Pan-African level (altho it happens in Indonesia, and other parts of the world too) and at an international/global level to ensure that agencies and others involved have a coherent, funded plan to really meet the UN stated aim of "eradicating FGM within this generation."
At the moment we are woefully far from this.
The other main issue is that this practice predates both Christianity and Islam - it is a question of female control. It ensures women's chastity and fidelity in one brutal stroke. Projects that work towards female empowerment do make a different in the debate. UNICEF research also shows that when whole villages adopt a shift away from FGM (meaning no one woman is penalised by not being allowed to marry if she is uncut) then change really can happen.
This practice is a human rights violation, a child rights violation and it denies girls their own opportunity to reach their potential.
We should all do anything we can to help shift this debate. Please!
Here is Avaaz's orignial response:
Thanks to all for comments on female genital mutilation - there seems to be a lot of misunderstanding about Avaaz's position.
Avaaz is a member-driven organization - we use polls of our membership to set our priorities and decide our course. There are so many vital issues in the world today, and FGM is certainly one of them, but it's just impossible to campaign on all of them. Unlike traditional NGOs where staff, board and funders decide priorities, our members make the difficult and sometimes painful decisions about which campaigns our community focuses on. It's really important to our democratic model of campaigning that it's our membership as a whole, and not any small group of members or staff, that decides what we work on.
Our community is passionate about human rights and women's rights. Almost half of our campaigns have been human rights-related campaigns, including for example the prevention of mass rape in the Congo and accountability for rape and genocide in Sudan. We've also focused heavily on human rights in countries like Zimbabwe, Tibet and Burma. But so far, Avaaz members have not chosen FGM as one of our most important priorities.
We wish the WHOA FGM campaign all the best in educating people about this serious issue, and hope we can join the cause when Avaaz members choose to. We're grateful to everyone who has posted civil and respectful comments, but we're very concerned that one of your members is sending abusive and threatening messages to Avaaz staff on personal accounts - please let's have a mature and respectful discussion and not threaten and demonize people whose job it is to serve the Avaaz community by working hard on many good causes.
The Avaaz Team
Friday, 23 October 2009
Thursday, 22 October 2009
The Matrix and FGM....
I've recently read an FGM publication written by Nahid Toubia "A Global Call to Action."
The thing that stopped me in my steps though was a photograph of an infibulated seven year old Sudanese girl. I wish I could reproduce it here. I guess words will have to do.
All you see is her brown legs apart, lower down, the black star of her anus. Above this, a wider hole - almost like a belly button - some sort of orifice, puckered. Above that - nothing. Absolutely nothing - smooth smooth skin. Clearly she is too young to have pubic hair, but the pristine smoothness of this skin apalls and amazes me.
I mused with my friend Ben about it. He instantly hit on something: "it sounds like the body of an android" - that seemed to say it. De-sexed. Everything internal is intact (unless it is ravished by infection and succumbs to all of the health stresses that happen as a result of FGM) women are able to still have sex, still give birth, but everything in this area is now controlled by others.
My other analogy is a Barbie doll. And the smoothness of the plastic reminds me of the skin with no marks. Perhaps you may connect with a more modern analogy, which Julian told me of - Neo in the Matrix. The point where his mouth disappears and all that is left is the bold line of his face, mouthless. This is the same, but vulva-less.
The photograph haunts me. Worse, I go around showing it to everyone. I am lucky in my friends - they don't shy away - even Brett, the hairdresser in Smithfield, wants to know more, doesn't baulk from talking.
I realise I now might have to find a way of reproducing the photo.... will do my best.
I wanted to quote directly from her report:
"The thinking of an African woman who believes "FGM is the fashionable thing to do to become a real woman" is not so different from that of an American woman who has breast implants to appear more feminine. Presented below are some of the reasons given for FGM:
BEAUTY/CLEANLINESS
Female genitals are unhygienic and need to be cleaned
Female genitals are ugly and will grow to become unwieldy if they are not cut back
FGM is a fashionable thing to do to become a real woman
MALE PROTECTION/APPROVAL
FGM is an intiation into womanhood and into the tribe
The noncircumcised cannot be married
FGM enhances the husband's sexual pleasure
FGM makes vaginal intercourse more desirable than clitoral stimulation
HEALTH
FGM improves fertility and prevents maternal and infant mortality
RELIGION
God sanctifies FGM
MORALITY
FGM safeguards virginity
FGM cures "sexual deviance" ie frigidity, lesbianism, sexual arousal.
None of the underlying messages and language used to justify FGM is unique to Africa. These messages reflect a universal language used to perpetuate women's second-class status and a re reminiscent of reasons given for slavery, colonialism and racism."
The whole report is well-written and I glean facts from it that I haven't done elsewhere - in particular, issues around the cutting and recutting around childbirth and "access" for marriage. It also talks about the recognition that whilst infibulation is seen as the pratice that has most impact health wise, this can leave clitoridectomies seeming almost acceptable. In fact, some communities "downgrade" to removing the clitoris.
This is a discussion I had with friends recently - one said that she felt that if the practice could be done more hygienically, by medical professionals, that this would make it much safer.
To me, this is anathema and indeed, Toubia points out that this is one of the gravest issues - if the practice is put into the hands of the medical profession and seen as helpful, then all of us advocates will be set back by at least 30 years. It will have been appropriated by the system, and there it will stay - wresting back control of women's bodies will be even harder than now.
The thing that stopped me in my steps though was a photograph of an infibulated seven year old Sudanese girl. I wish I could reproduce it here. I guess words will have to do.
All you see is her brown legs apart, lower down, the black star of her anus. Above this, a wider hole - almost like a belly button - some sort of orifice, puckered. Above that - nothing. Absolutely nothing - smooth smooth skin. Clearly she is too young to have pubic hair, but the pristine smoothness of this skin apalls and amazes me.
I mused with my friend Ben about it. He instantly hit on something: "it sounds like the body of an android" - that seemed to say it. De-sexed. Everything internal is intact (unless it is ravished by infection and succumbs to all of the health stresses that happen as a result of FGM) women are able to still have sex, still give birth, but everything in this area is now controlled by others.
My other analogy is a Barbie doll. And the smoothness of the plastic reminds me of the skin with no marks. Perhaps you may connect with a more modern analogy, which Julian told me of - Neo in the Matrix. The point where his mouth disappears and all that is left is the bold line of his face, mouthless. This is the same, but vulva-less.
The photograph haunts me. Worse, I go around showing it to everyone. I am lucky in my friends - they don't shy away - even Brett, the hairdresser in Smithfield, wants to know more, doesn't baulk from talking.
I realise I now might have to find a way of reproducing the photo.... will do my best.
I wanted to quote directly from her report:
"The thinking of an African woman who believes "FGM is the fashionable thing to do to become a real woman" is not so different from that of an American woman who has breast implants to appear more feminine. Presented below are some of the reasons given for FGM:
BEAUTY/CLEANLINESS
Female genitals are unhygienic and need to be cleaned
Female genitals are ugly and will grow to become unwieldy if they are not cut back
FGM is a fashionable thing to do to become a real woman
MALE PROTECTION/APPROVAL
FGM is an intiation into womanhood and into the tribe
The noncircumcised cannot be married
FGM enhances the husband's sexual pleasure
FGM makes vaginal intercourse more desirable than clitoral stimulation
HEALTH
FGM improves fertility and prevents maternal and infant mortality
RELIGION
God sanctifies FGM
MORALITY
FGM safeguards virginity
FGM cures "sexual deviance" ie frigidity, lesbianism, sexual arousal.
None of the underlying messages and language used to justify FGM is unique to Africa. These messages reflect a universal language used to perpetuate women's second-class status and a re reminiscent of reasons given for slavery, colonialism and racism."
The whole report is well-written and I glean facts from it that I haven't done elsewhere - in particular, issues around the cutting and recutting around childbirth and "access" for marriage. It also talks about the recognition that whilst infibulation is seen as the pratice that has most impact health wise, this can leave clitoridectomies seeming almost acceptable. In fact, some communities "downgrade" to removing the clitoris.
This is a discussion I had with friends recently - one said that she felt that if the practice could be done more hygienically, by medical professionals, that this would make it much safer.
To me, this is anathema and indeed, Toubia points out that this is one of the gravest issues - if the practice is put into the hands of the medical profession and seen as helpful, then all of us advocates will be set back by at least 30 years. It will have been appropriated by the system, and there it will stay - wresting back control of women's bodies will be even harder than now.
Wednesday, 16 September 2009
UN Women's Agency approved!
Remarkable scenes!
In spite of doom laden scenarios, the UN General Assembly voted unanimously yesterday to go ahead with the UN Women's Agency.....
Now the real work begins.....
In spite of doom laden scenarios, the UN General Assembly voted unanimously yesterday to go ahead with the UN Women's Agency.....
Now the real work begins.....
Sunday, 13 September 2009
The UN should not be beyond women's grasp....
And yet, to so many of us, it is.
The UN is often seen as a huge lumbering beast, that only looks to its own self-fulfilling concerns. Yet most recently, talk of reform has been on the table. Reform of the UN's funding and its structure.
Part of this reform has been a discussion about setting up a dedicated UN Women's Agency, which could affect the lives of women the world over. Much has been done. Many countries have agreed the need for it. A resolution has been put forward to the UN General Assembly. However, it is mired in the horse-trading and geo-political discussions that accompany the signing of any resolution. It is in danger of not being signed at all (see Mark Tran's article here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/sep/11/ratification-un-women-agency-threatened).
The resolution must be passed by today, 14th September, 2009. Who knows what will happen. If it is passed, we are on our way to creating an autonomous, fully funded, dedicated agency for women, that has vowed to work in partnership with CSOs on the ground and have the proper level of leadership needed for this important body.
It is most desperately needed.
A quick glance at UN statistics (courtesy of GEAR) show that the women's agencies spend is a terribly low $221m - and this against a global UN spend in 2008 of $27bn. This means that fewer than 1% is spent on gender equality within the UN.
Rather than give a whole level of detail about the background, you can access the campaign here: http://www.un-gear.eu/home.shtml. The home page has some sobering statistics:
As someone on the ground, simply campaigning for a better life for women, I'm still wholeheartedly shocked at how our global hegemonies spout the rhetoric, yet do so little in practice. This is a prime example.
For those who argue that we will simply be creating a whole new UN instrument in the form of its predecessors, I would argue that in order to beat the system, sometimes you need to infiltrate from within and play with the same orchestra....
Let's all hope today's vote goes the way we need it to.
The UN is often seen as a huge lumbering beast, that only looks to its own self-fulfilling concerns. Yet most recently, talk of reform has been on the table. Reform of the UN's funding and its structure.
Part of this reform has been a discussion about setting up a dedicated UN Women's Agency, which could affect the lives of women the world over. Much has been done. Many countries have agreed the need for it. A resolution has been put forward to the UN General Assembly. However, it is mired in the horse-trading and geo-political discussions that accompany the signing of any resolution. It is in danger of not being signed at all (see Mark Tran's article here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/sep/11/ratification-un-women-agency-threatened).
The resolution must be passed by today, 14th September, 2009. Who knows what will happen. If it is passed, we are on our way to creating an autonomous, fully funded, dedicated agency for women, that has vowed to work in partnership with CSOs on the ground and have the proper level of leadership needed for this important body.
It is most desperately needed.
A quick glance at UN statistics (courtesy of GEAR) show that the women's agencies spend is a terribly low $221m - and this against a global UN spend in 2008 of $27bn. This means that fewer than 1% is spent on gender equality within the UN.
Rather than give a whole level of detail about the background, you can access the campaign here: http://www.un-gear.eu/home.shtml. The home page has some sobering statistics:
- Every minute of every day, a woman dies in childbirth - a statistic that hasn't improved in two decades
- 70% of the world's poor and 67% of the world's illiterate are women
- In 141 countries, marital rape remains a legal activity
- Only 9% of HIV+ women in the developing world have access to treatment that blocks passing their HIV onto newborn
As someone on the ground, simply campaigning for a better life for women, I'm still wholeheartedly shocked at how our global hegemonies spout the rhetoric, yet do so little in practice. This is a prime example.
For those who argue that we will simply be creating a whole new UN instrument in the form of its predecessors, I would argue that in order to beat the system, sometimes you need to infiltrate from within and play with the same orchestra....
Let's all hope today's vote goes the way we need it to.
Friday, 28 August 2009
A flurry of surveys and studies
A girl prepares for perhaps a clitoridectomy in Indonesia
The FGM world has been active in the last few days. No one has told it that it's summer.
Firstly, news of a DoH funded intiative in partnership with FORWARD. It is a questionnaire that goes out to various health professionals in the UK, asking about their interaction with FGM over a certain time period.
Secondly, a study that FORWARD has released, called rather heartbreakingly: "FGM is always with us" - experiences, perceptions and beliefs of women affected by FGM in London.
Thirdly, a services and support guide to FGM, particularly aimed at young people and teachers. It tells in extremely plain language who is at risk, what to do if you suspect a girl is at risk and gives a list of support services that people can access.
All can be accessed from www.forwarduk.org.uk
Fourthly (yes, there's more!) UNFPA have put out their Global Consultation 112 page report into FGM, its trends and issues for maternal and newborn health (here: http://bit.ly/5uhmi)
But the wider issues continue. In the twittersphere, @taskforce FGM tweets: "Reflecting the last days: studies, conferences, blablabla: Damn hypocrisy! When will UN & Co. start to truly ACT for an end of #FGM?"
One of the things I've noticed more since my involvement in this world is that things are changing slowly - we have heard of women who have decided not to cut their daughters, of villages that have abandoned the practice.
Partly this is a communications issue - who is telling the stories? Who is saying what is happening that is positive? But also, who is doing the proper monitoring and evaluation? How to work out if the situation is improving?
A few years ago, the statistics used by the UN jumped. It used to be two million girls a year were affected by FGM. Now it's stated that it's three million girls a year. A sudden jump of one million. The range of those living with FGM is in the region of 100 - 140 million. Yet even a cursory mathematical glance shows how difficult this is. If Indonesia has a population of 250m and therefore, about 125m are women, and at the very very lowest, say there's a 20% prevalence rate (although we know it to be higher) - already that's 25m women, without taking on Africa at all.....
Some may argue that Indonesia practices type 4, which is scraping or pricking the clitoris. But a USAID report from 2005 states that because of the medicalisation of FGM, nurses are using scissors instead of a blade, and of course the easiest thing to do with scissors is to cut the entire clitoris off, so clitoridectomies are growing in Indonesia.
So how to know if any change is being made if we are unable to start with a baseline figure that everyone agrees upon?
And even if we have a good baseline, how to monitor it and ensure we are changing anything?
As ever, we are reliant on local action, global voices.
As summer holiday season clouds to an end, I am slightly heartened that things are happening on the FGM front. But is it enough?
Tuesday, 18 August 2009
August, holiday mode
Today, the offices are quiet. Offices everywhere are quiet. Outside is a beautiful summer's day, with achingly blue skies. Opposite me is an oil painting done by a women who has gone through FGM. She sits naked, legs apart fearfully gazing down between them, at a present - a wrapped yellow box with green flowers on the paper. It has an orange bow. A veritable gift. Onto the gift are fallings, streams of her blood, intermingling with the tears coursing down her face. It seems to sum up the fearful juxtaposition of the gift and celebration by which FGM is ushered in.
My mission is to look at the inbox from the website, that handles general enquiries.
A heart-rending mix. Some are straightforward requests from healthcare organisations wanting training, others are about linking to our website. So far, so good. But the ones that make me pause for a time and stay with me on the bus home are about people asking for help. Real help. Mothers and fathers, boyfriends, girls themselves. Some are UK based, others are wider afloat. All have their own story.
In a recent discussion about sexual health and reproductive rights and women being able to access their own sexual pleasure, I was struck by how FGM precedes this whole discusion. How to access these if girls are wounded at such a young age?
As ever with my blog, more questions than answers.
I leave you with two thoughts - one is that a recent study in Iraqi Kurdistan showed a prevelance rate of around 80% FGM (here: http://tinyurl.com/ptx98s) the second is that Egypt has arrested its first person for practising FGM (here: http://bit.ly/v5jxK)
Sunday, 2 August 2009
Coming at it from a different angle...
You'll know that I've been struggling with the "direct intervention" ideas behind eradicating FGM. If it were that easy, it would have ended years ago. Various people have talked to me about systemic change and not looking at the problem head-on.
Two recent news stories made me ponder.
The first, in The Huffington Post, by H'Rina DeTroy outlines a new practice in the Sudan (80% prevalence) where women are communicating through henna designs on their hands that they do not want their daughters to undergo FGM:
"Called the henna technique, a special design dyed temporarily on the skin can indicate to a midwife that a mother wants to avoid genital mutilation on her daughter. The tattoos serve as a bridge to discuss what is traditionally taboo. In turn, a midwife can stage a fake circumcision."
NGOs are apparently teaching midwives how to fake FGM and henna artist is the go-between that allows the mother to safely communicate what she wants to happen to her daughter. What is wonderful about this "intervention" is that it purely picks up on the mother's wishes and communicates it in a way that is kept within the women's "code" of communication. I wonder how the midwife "fakes" it? Just a small nick to the clitoris perhaps?
Here's the full link to the story: http://bit.ly/1a1Gqu
The second story was equally compelling. A report for Women's Hour on another NGO in India, that is teaching girls to play netball. This freedom of expression through sport has led to a strong sense of freedom of expression overall. Of course, the girls are also taught other skills and are offered training courses in wider issues, such as HIV/AIDs and Sexual Reproductive Health but the netball has seemed to have had the most positive impact.
The report states that child marriage (14/15 years) is still very prevalent in the area of India that they are working in and a girl's voice is unlikely to be heard. Through this empowerment, this physical allowance of getting girls to express themselves through sport, they are literally more free to express themselves in the home. Link to the BBC website below.
It's, once again, far far too late to be posting. But I feel slightly invigorated by this - and by, finally a long talk with my best friend and my god-daughters, oh so far away.
Sleep well, all.
http://bit.ly/I9ZDA
Two recent news stories made me ponder.
The first, in The Huffington Post, by H'Rina DeTroy outlines a new practice in the Sudan (80% prevalence) where women are communicating through henna designs on their hands that they do not want their daughters to undergo FGM:
"Called the henna technique, a special design dyed temporarily on the skin can indicate to a midwife that a mother wants to avoid genital mutilation on her daughter. The tattoos serve as a bridge to discuss what is traditionally taboo. In turn, a midwife can stage a fake circumcision."
NGOs are apparently teaching midwives how to fake FGM and henna artist is the go-between that allows the mother to safely communicate what she wants to happen to her daughter. What is wonderful about this "intervention" is that it purely picks up on the mother's wishes and communicates it in a way that is kept within the women's "code" of communication. I wonder how the midwife "fakes" it? Just a small nick to the clitoris perhaps?
Here's the full link to the story: http://bit.ly/1a1Gqu
The second story was equally compelling. A report for Women's Hour on another NGO in India, that is teaching girls to play netball. This freedom of expression through sport has led to a strong sense of freedom of expression overall. Of course, the girls are also taught other skills and are offered training courses in wider issues, such as HIV/AIDs and Sexual Reproductive Health but the netball has seemed to have had the most positive impact.
The report states that child marriage (14/15 years) is still very prevalent in the area of India that they are working in and a girl's voice is unlikely to be heard. Through this empowerment, this physical allowance of getting girls to express themselves through sport, they are literally more free to express themselves in the home. Link to the BBC website below.
It's, once again, far far too late to be posting. But I feel slightly invigorated by this - and by, finally a long talk with my best friend and my god-daughters, oh so far away.
Sleep well, all.
http://bit.ly/I9ZDA
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