FGM has been evident in many cultures for many generations

and has a strong history and traditional value within cultures.

 A young girl’s family makes the decision for her to have
this procedure. The family decides the value of the girl’s
health, status, and future through this painful surgery.
 FGM is often a requirement for women in order to be
able to marry.
 If a family decides not to cut a girl, there are societal
consequences followed, including
• exclusion from community members, activities, rites of
passages and rituals, and
• even the lowering of the girl’s family members’ statuses.
FGM is viewed as a tradition used to promote and maintain
women’s health, hygiene, honor, sexual desire, legitimate
pregnancies, virginity and pureness.
 1950s - FGM was performed in England and the United
States as a common 'treatment' for lesbianism,
masturbation, hysteria, epilepsy, and other so-called
'female deviances'"
 FGM is important to experience within a woman’s life, in
order to please the will of her family, father, and her own
future. The health, status, and political pressures affiliated
with FGM resonate deeply with women within these
cultures.
The Socio-Cultural Factors that Influences the
Practice of FGM in different countries:
Ghana
Nigeria
Other different communities
KASSENA-NANKANA
DISTRICT, GHANA
 FGM is prevalent in the northern parts of the country (the
Upper East and West Regions and some parts of the
northern region)
 FGM is practiced among all three ethnic groups
 Also prevalent in the Bolgatanga and Builsa districts that
share borders with the Kassena-Nankana district
 Factors considered for circumcision:
 Age (15-18)
 Impending marriage
 Development of breasts
 Early menstruation
 Growth of pubic hair
 WHY?
 GENDER IDENTITY
 DAUGHTER’S ROLE DURING PARENTS’
FUNERAL RITES
 SOCIAL DERISION AMONG WOMEN
 CONTROLLING FEMALE SEXUALITY AND
REPRODUCTION
 ERRONEOUS HEALTH BELIEFS
 GENDER IDENTITY
 FGM is believed to be crucial to the feminization of girls
 The clitoris is seen as equivalent of the penis and until it is
removed a woman is considered masculine.
Women who die uncircumcised are
buried as men and their funeral also
performed as for a man.

 The clitoris is also said to induce aggressiveness in women; its

removal helps girls to develop personality traits that are more
feminine (docile, obedient, self-restrained)
 DAUGHTER’S ROLE DURING PARENTS’
FUNERAL RITES
 Daughters play various religious and spiritual roles in the
performance of final funeral rites of their mother.

The most significant role of daughters

perform during funerals is the holding
of a calabash during their mother’s
final funeral rite and also holding of the
tip of their father’s burial mat.
 SOCIAL DERISION AMONG WOMEN
 One of the reasons for circumcision is the fear of mockery
and ridicule among women themselves
 Uncircumcised women are seen as inferior and cowards.
Children of uncircumcised women are
derisively referred to as clitoris
children.

 There is a belief that children who pass through the clitoris

during birth are destined to be stubborn and disrepectful.
 CONTROLLING FEMALE SEXUALITY
AND REPRODUCTION
 It is believed that clitoris increases desire for sex and therefore
is the main cause of pre-marital and extra-marital sex among
women.
 The argument is that the clitoris erects and increases the
desire for sex among girls at puberty.
The removal of the clitoris is believed
to reduce or suppress sex drive among
girls, thereby reducing pre-marital sex
and hence, teenage pregnancy.
 It is believed that FGM reduces libido in women thereby
protecting the family from disharmony and protects women
from conflicts.
 ERRONEOUS HEALTH BENEFITS
 An important rationale for FGM is the belief that girls become
plump and more beautiful after circumcision, attracting suitors
to girls and gifts for their parents.
 FGM is believed to facilitate an easy child delivery

…child birth is easy when one is

circumcised because when a woman is
in labour, the child’s head is easily
seen, the clitoris covers where the
child will pass out and this makes the
childbirth hard to bear.
–Female provider; IDI, China

LOC
OWORONSHOKI COMMUNITY
IN KOSOFE LOCAL
GOVERNMENT AREA (LGA)
OF LAGOS STATE,
SOUTHWESTERN NIGERIA
 The practice is rooted in the religious belief and culture of the
people as explained by two religious leaders interviewed
during the in-depth interview session of the data collection.
 A Christian leader in the community reported that:

“There is no specific place in the bible the holy

book for Christians where we specific instruction
on female circumcision unlike the male circumcision
that was given as injunction and sign of everlasting
covenant between father Abraham and almighty
Jehovah. Since religion will give birth to the people
ways of life that will call culture, female circumcision
became permissive among Christians since it
seems to serve some forms of social and health
benefits for the Christian ladies.”
 A Muslim cleric in the community explained that:.

In the Quran, the holy book of Muslims, there is no

section where almighty Allah asked us to circumcise
our daughters, but we have it in the teaching of
Prophet Mohammed in the hadith relating to
female circumcision. In this hadith, the Prophet did
not forbid the practice but only indicated the limits.
In particular, Prophet recommends a sunna type
of female circumcision (clitoridectomy) which is
involves “cutting-off the prepuce to the clitoris” not
the severe form of FGM that we hear about among
different ethnic groups in the country and other parts of
the world.
 FGM practice is greatly rooted in the people’s traditional
culture, permissive among the Christians and strongly
encouraged among the Muslims based on the Prophet
Hadith.
 Circumcision is a family trade and the skills for it are
passed down from one generation to the other. The
circumcisers are usually organized into guilds in some
ethnic groups.

LOC
OTHER DIFFERENT
COMMUNITIES
 KURIA
 SAMBURU
 AMERU
 BORANA
 KISII
 MASAAI
 SOMALI
 SOCIO-CULTURAL REASONS
“ It’s our tradition, and hence we can’t leave it. The uncircumcised
are sexual hypes and hence contribute to the high rate of
STI’s. Uncircumcised girls are promiscuous.
[FGD, 65-year-old member of Nyabasi Council of Elders]

KURIA
 Circumcision is something that came from God and was
not decided by the Kuria. Therefore it cannot be stopped by
anyone.
“It is the tradition of the Kuria people since time immemorial. God
gave every tribe what they should do and for us he gave us
circumcision of both male and female and will never end...”.
[FGD, 70-year-old elder, Bugumbe Council of Elders]
 SOMALI
 Female genital mutilation is believed to ensure a girl’s
virginity. Virginity is a pre-requisite for marriage, which is
necessary to maintain a family’s honour and to secure the
family line.

AMERU
 FGM is the rite of passage into womanhood and is
accompanied by ceremonies to mark the occasion when the
girl becomes a mature woman. In communities that practise
FGM, girls are generally under social pressure from their
peers and family members to undergo the procedure.
 SAMBURU
 Unless a girl’s clitoris is removed, she will not become a
mature woman, or even a full member of the human race. She
will have no right to associate with others of her age group, or
her ancestors.

KISII
 It is considered a necessary mark for ethnic identity:
circumcision is seen as a necessary identity for the Kisii
woman, to distinguish her from other non-circumcising
communities. They are threatened with rejection by the
group or family if they do not follow tradition.
 HYGIENIC AND AESTHETIC REASONS
SOMALI & BORANA
 FGM is a traditional practice, it is believed that a woman’s
external genitalia are ugly and dirty, and that they will continue
to grow if they are not cut away. Removing these parts of the
external genitalia is believed to make girls hygienically clean.
FGM is believed to make a girl beautiful.

THE MAASAI
 Fathers are proud when they circumcise their first-born
daughters because they become ‘true men’. If a man
marries an uncircumcised girl, that woman is expected to
be circumcised during delivery at the latest. In the
meantime the man is despised and considered an outcast
for marrying a woman who is not fit to live in a Maasai home
Several myths associated with FGM, which serve to propagate
FGM in the community:
 Blood of an uncircumcised woman is bad.
 If a girl is not circumcised, her clitoris will grow long.
 If a girl is not circumcised, then her parents will die.
 Female circumcision controls a woman’s sexual urge.
 Female circumcision makes childbirth easy.
 PSYCHO-SEXUAL REASONS
“•“...belief of the Kuria if a girl is circumcised she doesn’t like boys”
[19-year-old uncircumcised girl]

SOMALI & BORANA

 The belief is that the uncut clitoris will grow big and pressure
on this organ will arouse intense desire. It is also believed that
the tight opening of infibulation or narrowing of the vaginal
orifice, enhance male sexual pleasure, which prevents
divorce or unfaithfulness. In Somali community it is believed
that mutilating the genitalia of a woman who fails to conceive
will solve the problem of infertility.
 SPIRITUAL AND RELIGIOUS REASONS
SOMALI
 The Somali community believe that removing the
external genitalia is necessary to make a girl spiritually
clean and is therefore required by religion.

MUSLIM
 In Muslim societies, which practise FGM, people tend to
believe that it is required by the Koran. However, FGM is
not mentioned in the Koran.
 It is important to note that neither the Bible nor the
Koran subscribe to the practice of FGM, although it is
frequently carried out by communities –especially Muslim
communities –in the genuine belief that it is part of their
religion. FGC is not a ritual specific to any religion; infact it is
practiced by Jews, Christians, Muslims and followers of
indigenous religions like the Maasai of Kenya.