Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)

SL is one of 28 African countries where FGM continues to be practiced. Because of the secrecy surrounding the procedure, no systematic survey has been conducted, but it is believed that around 90% of women living in SL have been subjected to FGM. Worldwide estimates range between 100 and 140 million women and girls.

WHAT IS IT?

Regional variations and respective tribes' customs generate considerable confusion about what the procedure entails. The World Health Organization (WHO) divides FGM into 4 types, the most prevalent of which being the excision of the clitoris with partial or total removal of the labia minora. One type refers to the burning of the clitoris or the introduction of corrosive substances inside the vagina.

Defenders of FGM prefer the term "circumcision" to mutilation. This is medically inaccurate. Western advocates of a culturally sensitive approach to the controversial practice use the word "cutting". They are often anthropology or African studies scholars, who have not had the procedure done themselves and would never submit their own daughters to it.

WHAT ARE THE CONSEQUENCES?

The potential health complications associated with FGM are both numerous and severe. Beyond acute pain and shock, they include excessive bleeding, urinary incontinence, infections and vulnerability to disease, an increased risk of fistula, and complications during pregnancy and child birth.

WHY DO IT?

Women and girls undergo FGM for a mix of overlapping reasons: tradition, preservation of their virginity and hence of the family honour, acceptance by the community, suitability for marriage, and perceived increased sexual pleasure for men. Sometimes they are told that it will improve hygiene and enhance fertility. Exactly the opposite is true.

HOW DOES IT HAPPEN?

FGM is the culmination point of an initiation ritual that can last up to several weeks. Typically, adolescent girls are taken to the Bondo Bush, the term used for a remote area on the outskirts of a village, where a group of women teach them the skills they will need to be submissive and hard-working housewives. They are taught how to cook, sow, clean, dance, and please a man. Then, to mark their entry into womanhood, older women called sowies perform FGM, using, and re-using, a knife, a razor blade, a shard of glass, or a sharpened piece of stone. There are no surgical tools in the bush. No sterilization. No anesthetic. No doctors or nurses. No emergency services.

Being a sowie is a job that provides financial sustainability and confers significant social status. For their services, sowies are paid money and given bags of rice, bottles of palm oil, pots and pans, fabrics, and a selection of other everyday items. Some families save up for months to be able to afford their daughters' initiation.

For girls and young women who pass through the hands of sowies, the health risks and complete lack of legal recourse following a botched intervention are very similar to those encountered by women who turned to unqualified, back alley, abortion providers in the pre- Roe v. Wade era.

WHAT DOES THE LAW SAY ABOUT FGM?

In SL, no law forbids, regulates, or even defines FGM. The procedure is too entrenched culturally for any government to risk electoral support by acknowledging its dangers and undermining its practitioners. In the last general election, in 2007, the party that now forms the opposition (Sierra Leone People's Party), openly offered to pay for families' FGM expenses in exchange for votes. This led to some families sending 2 or 3 daughters to the Bondo bush at the same time, regardless of age.

The current official position is that FGM should not be performed on girls without their consent. But when dealing with children, consent is relative. The peer, family, and community pressure is often overwhelming for a young girl, who faces being marginalized and passed over for marriage if she refuses FGM.

The ministry of education is concerned that the initiation process takes girls out of school for a number of weeks. The health problems following FGM can keep them away even longer. The ministry's solution is to encourage parents to send their girls to the sowies during the Christmas break.

CIVIL SOCIETY'S RESPONSE TO FGM

Several NGOs are working very hard to reduce, even eradicate FGM in SL. An umbrella organization called the National Movement for Emancipation and Progress (NaMEP) coordinates the efforts of some 20 groups operating in different regions of the country.

Using a participatory approach that takes into account legal frameworks, psychological and physical health, education, and religion, NaMEP partners so far have managed to convince local Chiefs in a handful of districts (Kambia, Kono, Moyamba Junction, Port Loko) to introduce restrictions on FGM, such as minimum age limits. But it remains difficult to monitor whether sowies follow the new guidelines.

THE ROLE OF THE MEDIA

On April 16, JHR and NaMEP organized a workshop for journalists on the topic of FGM. The gathering focused on three objectives: harmonizing language on FGM, informing reporters about ongoing initiatives to reduce the prevalence of FGM, and sharing best practices on interviewing and producing news reports on FGM.

The event brought together more than 40 print and radio journalists, NaMEP members, and, what is most unusual for a reclusive group that does not appreciate the prying eye of the media, 5 sowies, including the president of the National Council of Sowies (in red dress). The informative conversation and moderated question period represented a unique opportunity for reporters and sowies to engage directly, clarify previous misunderstandings, and listen to each other's concerns.



NaMEP's national secretary and the sowies watched as reporters volunteered to take part in a role-play illustrating the dilemmas parents in rural areas face when deciding whether to send their daughters to the Bondo bush.



It will most likely take generations before SL abandons FGM completely. But the fact that sowies were willing to sit in front of a room full of journalists, and that all participants showed respect for opposing views and restraint in their language and tone, is a small yet significant first step. The next challenge will be to transfer this good will into well-researched, fact-based media reports that inform the public and don't serve as platforms for their authors' personal views on FGM.