FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION

OBJECTICTIVES
• Define FGM
• Discuss the classifications of FGM
• Discuss health implications of FGM
• Discuss management and preventive
measures of FGM
 INTRODUCTION
• More than 200 million girls and women alive today
have been cut in 30 countries in Africa, the Middle
East and Asia where FGM is concentrated.
• FGM is mostly carried out on young girls between
infancy and age 15.
• The practice is most common in the western,
eastern, and north-eastern regions of Africa, in
some countries the Middle East and Asia, as well as
among migrants from these areas.
• FGM is therefore a global concern.
 INTRODUCTION CONT….
• FGM is recognized internationally as a violation of
the human rights of girls and women. It reflects
deep-rooted inequality between the sexes, and
constitutes an extreme form of discrimination against
women. It is nearly always carried out on minors and
is a violation of the rights of children. The practice
also violates a person's rights to health, security and
physical integrity, the right to be free from torture
and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, and the
right to life when the procedure results in death.
 INTORDUCTION CONT..
• In most West African countries, the term “excision”
is used, because it is a common French word, while
in African Anglophone countries “circumcision” is
the commonly used term.
• The term ‘female genital mutilation’ was adopted in
1990 by the Inter-African Committee on Traditional
Practices Affecting the Health of Women and
Children, and in 1991 the World Health Organization
(WHO) recommended that the United Nations
adopt it as well.
 INTRODUCTION CONT…
• FGM/C is usually performed on girls during
childhood and before puberty. However, it can
be carried out even on adult women. The age
at which a girl may experience FGM/C (from a
few days after birth to just prior to marriage),
as well as the type and severity of the
procedure (from cutting with no flesh removed
to sewing), is very different from country to
country, and from community to community.
 DEFINATION
• The World Health Organization defines female
genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) as “all
procedures that involve partial or total
removal of the external female genitalia, or
other injury to the female genital organs for
non-medical reasons
 DEFINATION CONT….
• Female genital mutilation/cutting is also
known as “female circumcision” or “female
genital cutting (FGC)”. In addition, in
communities where the practice is typical,
several different words are used and these are
often linked to notions of purity, beauty,
cleanliness.
 Human rights
• It is internationally recognized that the
international human rights violated by FGM/C
are: the right to be free from gender
discrimination; the right to life; the right to
physical and mental integrity, including freedom
from violence; the right to the highest attainable
standard of health; the right not to be subjected
to torture or inhuman or degrading treatment or
punishment; the rights of the child
 HUMAN RIGHTS CONT…
• The rights of persons with disabilities; other
international human rights. Human rights,
which entail both rights and obligations, are
reflected in numerous treaties that are binding
under international law. They are also
reflected in non-binding documents, such as
resolutions, recommendations, guidelines,
declarations and principles.
 TYPES OF FGM
• There are four different types of FGM:
Type 1 The partial or total removal of the clitoris
and/or the area surrounding and protecting the
clitoris.
Type 2 The partial or total removal of the clitoris
and the removal of the labia. This is the most
common type of FGM and accounts for up to 80
per cent of cases.
 CONTINUATION OF TYPES
Type 3 The third type involves the narrowing of the
vaginal orifice by
creating a covering seal through the cutting and apposition
of the labia. This may be done with or without the removal
of all or part of the clitoris. This type of FGM – often called
infibulation – constitutes 15 per cent of all procedures.
Type 4 The final type involves all other harmful
procedures done to female genitalia for non-medical
purposes, including pricking, piercing, incision, burning,
branding and scraping.
 REASON FOR PRACTICING FGM
• There are many reasons why communities say they
practice FGM/C. These include: religious beliefs,
maintaining a woman’s virginity or chastity, cultural
tradition, hygiene, improving female fertility, and
increasing sexual pleasure for men among others.
• FGM/C is also a rite of passage, which makes a female
“woman” by removing parts of the genitalia which
resemble male parts or are considered more “male”.
FGM is practiced on girls because they were born
female; through this practice they are expected to
become women and to embrace their gender identity.
 REASONS FOR FGM CONT…
• Families therefore face great challenges when trying to
abandon the practice on their own, risking - among
others - social exclusion, stigma and inability to marry
their daughters inside their community.
• It is known that, in order to be enduring, change must be
endorsed by a whole community. As families are more
likely to continue to subject their daughters to FGM/C if
they believe others in their social group expect them to
do so, they will be encouraged to abandon the practice if
they know that the majority of the people living in their
community will do so as well.
 IMPACT OF FGM
• FGM/C has an impact on the sexual and
reproductive health and rights of women and
girls and on the enjoyment of their human
rights. It “has no health benefits, and it harms
girls and women in many ways. It involves
removing and damaging healthy and normal
female genital tissue, and interferes with the
natural functions of girls’ and women’s bodies
 COMPLICATION CONT…
• FGM/C results in physical and psychological
health consequences that vary according to
the type of cutting and personal experiences.
Immediate complications include:
• Severe pain
• Excessive bleeding (hemorrhage)
• Genital tissue swelling
• Fever
 COMPLICATION EFFECT CONT…
• Infections e.g., tetanus
• Urinary problems
• Wound healing problems
• Injury to surrounding genital tissue
• Shock
• Death
 LONG TERM COMPLICATION
• Urinary problems (painful urination, urinary
tract infections)
• Vaginal problems (discharge, itching, bacterial
vaginosis and other infections)
• Menstrual problems (painful menstruations,
difficulty in passing menstrual blood, etc.)
• Scar tissue and keloid
 LONG TERM COMPLICATION CONT…
• Sexual problems (pain during intercourse,
decreased pleasure, etc.)
• Increased risk of childbirth complications
(difficult delivery, excessive bleeding,
caesarean section and neonatal deaths
 PREVENTION OF FGM
(1) accelerate actions towards the elimination of
female genital mutilation, including education and
information necessary for full understanding of the
gender, health and human rights dimensions of
female genital mutilation
(2) to enact and enforce legislation to protect girls
and women from all forms of violence, particularly
female genital mutilation, and ensure implementation
of laws prohibiting female genital mutilation by any
person, including medical professionals
 PREVENTION CONT…
• 3) to support and enhance community-based
efforts to eliminate the practice of female
genital mutilation, particularly ensuring
men’s and local leaders’ participation in the
process to eliminate the practice
 PREVENTION CONT…
• (4) to work with all sectors of government,
international agencies and nongovernmental
organizations in support of the abandonment
of the practice as a major contribution to
attainment of the Millennium Development
Goals on promoting gender equality and
empowerment of women, reducing child
mortality and improving maternal health
 PREVENTION CONT…
• (5) formulate and promote guidelines for the care,
particularly during childbirth, of girls and women
who have undergone female genital mutilation;
• (6) to develop or reinforce social and psychological
support services and care and to take measures to
improve health, including sexual and reproductive
health, in order to assist women and girls who are
subjected to this violence
 Justification for FGM
Some social justifications that are held by groups that defend
the practice include: -
• Preservation of virginity and ensuring fidelity
• Identification with cultural heritage
• To mark the transition of girls into womanhood
• Social integration and acceptance, particularly for marriage
and family honor
• Hygiene and cleanliness
• Enhancing fertility and infant survival
• Increasing sexual pleasure for the male (the husband)
• Religion
 REFERENCES
• Bird,C.and Rieker, P.(2008).Gender and Health: The
effect s of constrined choices and social policies, 1st
ed;UK:Cambridge University Press
• World Health Organization (2008) Fact sheet: Female
genital mutilation. <www.
who.int/medicalcentre/factsheets/fs241/en/
index.html> Accessed 29 July 2008
• Greenberg, J., Bruess,C. and Oswalt, S.(2013).exploring
the dimensions of human sexuality, 5th ed; Burlington,
Massachusetts: Jones and Barlett learning