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Teana Mangasarian
Professor Makarosyan
English 114B
4 May 2016
The Social Injustice Faced By Women Around The World
Female genital mutilation is a social injustice overlooked by most and unheard by many.
Those who have heard of it, know it as female circumcision. In reality the practice itself is the
partial or total removal of a womans clitoris, a very painful and traumatizing experience in
which is entirely different from circumcision. With this particular social injustice evaded by
society, the practice continues in countries all around the world, but emphasized the most in
Africa. In the continent of Africa, over thousands of women of all ages face the brutal procedure
which ultimately generates multiple health and psychological issues, and creates the need for
help and awareness from institutions around the world in hoping to put an end to this cruel,
inhumane act.
From the outside looking in, anyone can see that the practice is remorseless and over
looks the outcomes. Many women are left facing the trauma over an act they had no control over
or say in. As a young women openly talks about her experience in a article covered by Priya
Shetty, she states The first thing I heard was my sister screaming. Then it was my turn. Four
women held me down while they cut my clitoris. I felt every single cut. The pain was so intense
I blacked out (Shetty). With that being said, you notice the pain and discomfort endured by
these women is to the point of no return. Due to unimaginable amount of pain proclaimed by
these woman, they are left with a lifetime worth psychological damage.

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Along with the psychological damage unwillingly placed on many women, health risks
come in to play as well. Many who are well aware of the practice and all its wrong doings brush
off the fact that many health problems can and do in fact arise. Both short term and long term
complications have been reported. Some reports have shown that Immediately following the
procedure, the girl or woman is at significant risk of traumatic bleeding and infection including
wound infection, septicaemia, gangrene and tetanus(Riesel). In correlation to these affects, other
short term affects by female genital mutilation resulted in deaths and also included
complications or damage to other adjacent organs(Riesel). Many people tend to look past the
consequences taken on in relation to the procedure. Short term effects are no joke and you notice
that people often do not bother to take in account any post procedure consequence. Rather it
seems as though they think of it as consequences do not matter, as long as cultural needs are met.
Long term consequences serve to be on going list of issues faced within a life span. As
It is increasingly recognized that FGM causes complications throughout the life span and these
can broadly divided into three main areas: Gynecological, Obstetric, Psychological (Riesel). To
provide the gists of each, Gynecological include menstrual difficulties, urinary symptoms and
infertility. As for Obstetric, which means they encounter complications during and after
pregnancy, and Psychological including depression and post traumatic stress disorder. Given all
this information, it is easy to conclude that the practice of female genital mutilation causes more
harm than good. These issues are real and women are suffering due to cultural and family beliefs.
Mothers and fathers of these young women believe it is right to execute the practice of genital
mutilation on their daughters to keep them pure and the family name clean. The soul purpose of
the practice is to restrict any women from getting pregnant or having sexual relations with any
man before marriage. Also some cultures, such as the cultures in Africa, go through with the

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practice because the mutilation of the genitals makes the women look more clean and well kept.
Social injustice plays a huge factor in this because it proves to show that females do not have a
say to what gets done to their bodies when it is their own body. Instead they are left to face the
consequences given by others actions.
For years, many institutions have gone out of their way to raise awareness in hopes of
changing and eradicating female genital mutilation. Countless countries fail to listen and abide
by the actions being placed by theses institutions and the government itself. In which it is the
main reason to why it is so hard to put an end to something particular countries believe in so
strongly. Although it was hard The need to eliminate FGM was well addressed in international
treaties such as the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against
Women of 1979 and the Convention on the Rights of the Child of 1989. Besides, the practice of
FGM violates regional treaties such as the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and
Peoples Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa that was adopted by the Assembly of the
African Union in 2003. At its last session in 2012, the General Assembly of the United Nations
adopted unanimously on 20 December 2012, a resolution for a global ban on FGM that will give
more support at a local level for interventions (Eduoard). As stated, actions have been put into
play for twenty plus years now to put an end to this social injustice, to leave women at peace,
and to give women the right to do what they want to their own body. To continue to raise
awareness aside form legal matters, Every year on 6 February, member states of the UN
observe the International Day of Zero Tolerance for FGM. The day is used to raise awareness
regarding FGM as well as to enhance actions, interventions and campaigns to eliminate
FGM( Clarkie). Taking action, and setting a day to inform people of the cities and country about
the brutality faced with Female Genital Mutilation is just another step towards the right direction

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to finally putting and end to this horrible practice. People around the world are slowly joining the
movement and understanding the reasoning behind it all. With more people aware of the social
injustice the faster we can put a stop to it. Without raising awareness and fighting for women
rights, no change will occur. It is our duty to fight in whats right and to give women the right to
control what is done to their own body.
Africa is known to be one of the least wealthiest continents in the world. Rather it has
many places with people living in extreme unsterile environments. With that being said, Africa is
publicly acknowledged to be one of the top places to take part in this practice based on cultural
preferences. They fail to take into consideration all the issues that undergo with female genital
mutilation and are strong believers in the traditions upheld in their culture for decades now. To
them tradition is tradition, no women can withhold from going through with the procedure. Most
families consider it as a way of keeping their daughters pure till marriage. As proclaimed
justified fact brought to our attention by World Health Organization, in Africa FGM is often
motivated by beliefs about what is considered acceptable sexual behavior. It aims to ensure
premarital virginity and marital fidelity. FGM is in many communities believed to reduce a
woman's libido and therefore believed to help her resist extramarital sexual acts. When a vaginal
opening is covered or narrowed (type 3), the fear of the pain of opening it, and the fear that this
will be found out, is expected to further discourage extramarital sexual intercourse among
women with this type of FGM. African families are so for female genital mutilation because it
provides them with the reassurance of their daughters virtue,so to speak. They believe it is a way
of staying a good, clean and kept woman until marriage. Even then, they believe sex for women
should not be for pleasure but serves as the soul purpose for the mans pleasure. Although it is a

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brutal injustice brought upon many women and girls, they still continue to follow the practice
based on their tradition regardless of legal actions being made.
Family is important to many people, and especially in Africa maintaining tradition and
cultural norms is a must. In Maxine Kingston Hongs short story, No Name Women, is about
a mother telling her daughter about an aunt who slept with another man while still with her
husband and got pregnant. Word got out spread like wildfire since everyone knew each other.
Everyone in the village was very traditional and were not happy with her actions, so they started
destroying her home by throwing mud and rocks at the house. The feeling of regret led the aunt
to commit suicide by jumping into a well, along with the baby. The reason her mother brought up
the story in the first place is because she had just started her menstrual cycle. Her mother wanted
to scare her and to make sure that she does not follow in the same foot steps as her aunt because
the family name is on the line. This correlates to the African cultures because they practice
female genital mutilation to prevent their daughters from having sex and getting pregnant before
they are married, which would also hurt the family name, if something like that was to happen.
Both Maxine Hong and the women of the African culture are provided with situations to scare
them into never having sex. Given, for African women, the situation is more brutal and painful
than Maxine. All in all, both are still face the idea of being scared to have sex because of what
their families have done.
In conclusion, Over thousands of women of all ages still continue to face the brutal
procedure which ultimately generates major issues for each and every one of these women. Acts
to raise awareness and help women all around the world are being put into play and growing as
we speak. Female genital mutilation is a social injustice brought upon by tradition and culture in
many places, especially Africa, that needs to be put to a stop. Without the help and support of

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those around us, we will never succeed to end a brutal and inhumane act to give women a life
without mental pain and fear.

Works Cited
Clarke, Elinor. "Working Together to Prevent Female Genital Mutilation." British Journal of
Midwifery, 23.11 (2015): 768-770.
Edouard, E, O Olatunbosun, and L Edouard. "International Efforts on Abandoning Female

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"Female Genital Mutilation." World Health Organization. World Health Organization,

2016. Web. 01 May 2016.
Reisel, D, and SM Creighton. "Long Term Health Consequences of Female Genital Mutilation
(FGM)." MATURITAS, 80.1 (2015): 48-51.
Shetty, P. "Slow Progress in Ending Female Genital Mutilation." Bulletin of the World
Health

Organization, 92.1 (2014): 6-7.