Female Genital Mutilation
Female genital mutilation (FGM) is a ritual of initiation that is performed on young girls to take them from childhood into womanhood. It is practiced predominantly in Islamic cultures of Africa and the Middle East. The practice is widespread throughout twenty-eight African countries and affects 130 million women (Mackie.1998: 1). Religion has been a means to justify female circumcision. The majority of circumcised women in the world are Muslim who practices FGM under a religious pretext. However, the Koran which is said to be the last message that God sent to humanity and is a primary source of Islamic law says nothing about women circumcision (Denniston, Hodges and Milos 1999:131,164). Because of increasing mobility of immigration from these regions FGM has been exported to Europe, U.K., Australia and the United States. It has now become a world health problem (Hoskin 1989:1). Appendix 1 shows the countries in Europe where female mutilation is practised (Denniston 1999:243). There are many different types of female genital mutilation. In some cases part or the entire clitoris is cut away. A more severe type of mutilation is called infibulation or pharonic circumcision. This involves the removal of the clitoris,
FGM Research Homepage The Laws of some African Countries [http://www.fgmnetwork.org/legisl/internet/africa.html] Accessed May 2000. Female genital mutilation has been around for many centuries and is becoming more widespread and extreme (Mackie.1998:1). For example, women are being sewn up after they have a child to make them " like a virgin once more, and this is believed to give the husband a very unique and special pleasure" (Lightfoot-Klein 1991:4) These examples demonstrate the obstacles that exist to eradicate FGM in both these countries. In Sudan the prevalence of FGM is 98% the actual numbers are 3,773,000 (Hosken 1992:1) In Sudan 64% of women are traditionally circumcised while 36% have it performed by medically trained people (Leye, Roelens and Temmerman 1995:14) Female genital mutilation is celebrated by festivals. Women place more importance on this day than on their wedding day. If a girl is not circumcised then she cannot marry and the smaller the opening of her infibulation, the more her father will receive in dowry money when she marries. Denniston,G. Hodges, F.and Milos,M.1999.Male and Female Circumcision Plenum Publishers, New York Strategic objective I.1. : Promote and protect the human rights of women, through the full implementation of all human rights instruments, especially the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. The women of Somalia and Sudan are the poorest in Africa. For governments to achieve L.2. women must be given the right to development, they must gain political and economic power so that the young girls of these countries can grow up and not be dependant on their fathers or husbands. BBC News 1999 World Europe Woman jailed for 48 circumcision [http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/africa/newsid_429000/429265.stn] Accessed May 2000.
Some common words found in the essay are:
Somalia Sudan, Australia United, Middle East, Gallo Abdisamed, Nevid Rathus, Somalia Somalia, Rights Neither, Performing FGM, Roelen Temmerman1995, UK BBC, human rights, female genital, female genital mutilation, somalia sudan, genital mutilation, female circumcision, accessed 2000, rights women, human rights women, fgm countries, eradication fgm, accessed june 2000, accessed june, protect human rights, 840% women education,
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Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page double spaced)
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