As the UK government announces hospitals are required to log information on patients who have suffered female genital mutilation (FGM), three generations of one family scarred by the practice have spoken out.
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Nearly 500 new cases of female genital mutilations (FGM) were identified last month in England with each case needing treatment as a result, reported the BBC on October 16. The act was criminalized by the UK legislation 29 years ago. Still, women and girls have been undergoing procedures that are described by the World Health Organization (WHO) as practices that injure and that interfere “with the natural function of girls’ and women’s bodies.”
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These figures from last month did not include more than 1,200 people who were already known to be receiving treatment for FGM. Also, in all the time that FGM has been criminalized, this is the first time that figures have been collected. Further, no one in all of that time who has administered such a procedure has been convicted of a criminal act in the courts.
Collecting data about the number of women and girls who had undergone the procedure was an attempt by the Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) to understand to what degree the problem exists. According to their data, FGM procedures occur all over England.
The data collected suggests that 170,000 women and girls living in the UK have possibly gone through an FGM procedure. This issue has been dubbed a “national scandal.”
UK officials have been holding off because of a worry about crossing boundaries of cultural sensitivity. In communities that engage in this practice, FGM is carried out as part of a coming of age of a young woman. It is a practice which “predates Islam,” and is practiced in many cultural and religious communities today. To some communities, a young girl cannot become a “complete woman” unless she has undergone FGM. To them, the procedure allows a woman or girl to become more clean, more feminine, more ready to accept her role in a community that expects her to be docile and obedient.
The WHO relates that FGM causes many serious problems for women and girls. “The practice causes severe pain and has several immediate long-term health consequences, including difficulties in childbirth, also causing dangers to the child.” FGM also affects women’s self esteem and mental health.
FGM is illegal. Period. Even if a medical professional carries out the procedure, it is illegal. Even if the procedure takes place outside of the UK (or the USA for that matter), it is illegal. FGM is known as a violation of human rights, a form of child abuse and a form of gender-based violence.
While times are changing, they are changing quite slowly. The Guardian reported last summer that parents allowing FGM procedures on their daughters would be prosecuted. The BBC, however, wrote that collecting data was a step towards prevention of the act in the future.
One youth, as reported by CNN said "All I can remember is being held down and the pain. I think it will haunt me forever.” Others are right there with her. That is why counseling programs have been put into place to help victims of female genital mutilations. "We hope that we can eradicate this practice by protecting those girls at risk and offer appropriate care and support to the survivors," said Janet Fyle, a policy advisor at the Royal College of Midwives. This is a “wake up call” she also said. Half of the reported cases of female genital mutilations reported in the UK had occurred in London.
*originally published on the now defunct Examiner.com
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