Ending FGM

The Fight Against Female Genital Cutting: New York Times reporter Celia Dugger reports from West Africa on progress in community-based efforts to eradicate female genital cutting.

By Nicholas Loomis

This week the New York Times published, "Senegal Curbs a Bloody Rite for Girls and Women," a report about female genital mutilation (FGM) and successful efforts to stop the practice in this West African nation. Performed out of love and respect for their daughters, mothers continue the practice to shield their girls from abuse by other women and to ensure they will be suitable for marriage. However, through education and by persuading young people living in villages that intermarry (as young people must marry outside of their clan/village) to abandon the practice, gains have been made in ending this ancient rite of womanhood. Many mothers, emotionally and physically scarred by FGM have sworn not to cut their daughters. To learn more, visit The Female Genital Cutting Education and Networking Project.

To read more on efforts to stop female genital mutilation in Africa, read Educating About Female Circumcision in Africa. In that post one can see the rudimentary instruments used to cut the girls - often two, four or eight years old - who suffer the surgery without anesthetic. To read the full article from New York Times on Senegal click here.