Women’s roles in FGM
FGM is a real tragedy in the world but especially in African countries. This practice shows how much women are controlled over their bodies by other women to please men. This practice makes us question women’s roles in fighting against this practice but also in how women are actually doing to end this practice?
In order to end the FGM practice on women but also young girls, some influent women founded many associations across the world. Wallace Global Fund which is an association that protects the diversity of nature and fights injustice. They support and promote an education about the FGM in communities to advocate for the FGM violence. Furthermore, to encourage that, advocates who work in local communities receive political support and funding. We can read on their website that “The Fund supports the launch of the US End FGM Network that will coordinate the US groups working on solutions to end and prevent FGM.”
There is many organizations across the word that were founded in order to end the practice of FGM and among them, there is the African Women Organization that was established in 1996 by women from Somalia, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Sudan, Nigeria, Senegal, Egypt and other African countries. This organization is a non-governmental one which means that they do not receive any funds from the government. The organization is now international and count many seats in Vienna and collaborates with many others government to deal with women welfare and try find solutions to women that immigrate to avoid FGM.
There is another organization called Beyond FGM, that advocate for a world free from FGM. The main goal here, is to educate mothers, wives, young girls about the dangers of FGM and to explain to them that FGM is not normal and should not be practiced. They try to make them change their point of views on the practice of FGM. It is very difficult in a way that these women are educated with the practice of FGM, and it is hard for them to change their opinion about their culture. “Organization’s End FGM Grants Progamme supports grassroots organizations working to end FGM in Kenya, Nigeria and the Gambia”.
Finally, the Daughters of Eve is a non-profit organization that protect and help out young girls and women who are in the risk of getting FGM. This organization raises awareness, provide support to women in need. They “recognizes FGM as gender-based violence which highlights inequalities between men and women and puts in danger health, dignity, autonomy and security of its victims”.
There is numerous other organizations that fight back against FGM. We can see that many of them were founded and are ruled by women that are traumatized about the FGM practice because they are victim themselves from this practice. Many of them immigrated to other countries and tried to found organizations, advocate, and educate the younger girls, but also their moms about this violent practice. African women are for the most part very involved in this fight against FGM, which is a success. We can notice an improvement and a change in their way of thinking about this practice. Furthermore, it is encouraging to see that many other women from different cultures and from different parts of the world, are also very involved in the fight against this practice as well. It is interesting to see that it is every women’s fight against this violent and traumatizing practice that is FGM as a fundamental women right.
Women’s roles in fighting back against FGM is very important in order to maintain their human rights, but also their dignity, and their feminity as well. Women involvement in fighting back against FGM is an every-day fight and goes trough education of younger girls, but also women that are going through all this. This is Shinina Shani’s priority in Kenya. Nowadays, because of all these organizations and women’s involvement, such as Ifrah Ahmed’s, and Jaha Dukureh, the world knows and recognizes this practice as a violent and traumatizing practice.
It is a success for women that are trying to put an end to this practice by the recognization from the UN that FGM is a sexual violence and goes against basic human rights. Women’s roles in fighting back against FGM is a success, however it is a long process that takes time and needs more funding to be able to help all these women.
sources: Archive.unu.edu