Saving Girls From a Deadly Tradition: Uganda's Mission

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Women's rights March CPT

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uploaded by Miriam Mannak

By Miriam Mannak

A huge breakthrough for girls and women in Uganda seems to be on the horizon with the drafting of a national bill that will send practitioners of female genital mutilation to jail for up to seven years. 

Uganda, which is situated in central Africa, outlawed female genital mutilation in 1989. Nevertheless, hundreds of young girls fall victim to this tradition each and every year.

Female circumcision comprises of the cutting or removal of the clitoris for non-medical reasons. It happens anytime between a woman's birth to her first pregnancy, but most cases occur between the ages of four and eight.*

The procedure is used as a sign that a woman is clean and a virgin. Uncut woman are regarded as being promiscuous.

In some regions of Uganda, the procedure - apart form cutting away the clitoris - also involves the partial or total removal of the labia minora. Some women  are subjected to infibulation (removal of the clitoris, labia minora and the labia majora), after which she is sown back together - leaving only a small opening for urination and menstrual blood.

All this happens without  anaesthesia and medically approved surgical equipment including broken glass, a tin lid or razor blades, and by people who had not medical training.

Therefore, many women die as a result of infections, and suffer incredible pains during their first sexual encounter. Female genital mutilation is also one of the leading causes of complications during child birth. In Uganda over the past five years, there have been almost 500 deaths as a result of the procedure. 

After child birth some women are re-infibulated to make them tight for their husbands.

Ugandan Women's rights groups have condemned the practice for many years. Recently, their voices were heard by the leaders of the Sabiny tribe. In November this year, the group from the eastern part of the country who practiced the rite, passed a by-law outlawing female genital mutilation.

The national bill is the next big step to protect girls and woman from an ancient and potentially deadly tradition.

Uganda is not the only region in the world where female genital mutilation is practiced. Other countries include Benin, Cameroon, Tanzania, Togo, Sudan, Ghana, Kenya, and the Gambia.

In contrary to what some believe, the practice tied to culture and not to a specific religion such as the Islam. Actually, female circumcision is a social custom that is practiced by Animists, Christians, and Muslims in the countries mentioned above. 

* One of the many women who have been subjected to female genital mutilation is super model Waris Dirie, from Somalia. For her story, and the impact of the practice onto her life please read Desert Flower.