African
Women Fight Female Genital Mutilation
By Mehru Jaffer
Vienna
(Women's Feature Service) - Waris Dirie, an Austrian of Somalian origin, is an
inspiration to the many victims of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), especially
in Africa. Born into a family of Somalian nomads,
Dirie's genitals were mutilated when she was three years old. She was sold in
marriage at 13 years after which she fled Africa. From
the heart of the desert to the West, where she became one of the highest paid
models, Dirie has come a long way. She has been chosen as the United Nations
spokesperson against FGM and is a fierce crusader against the ritual of FGM,
calling it one of the biggest challenges facing Somalian women.
According to the
World Health Organisation (WHO), 100 to 140 million girls and women worldwide
are currently living with the consequences of FGM. The inhuman procedure is
mostly carried out on young girls some time between infancy and post-puberty
(15 years). FGM intentionally alters or injure the female genital organs and
causes severe long-term medical problems.
FGM is associated
with anachronistic cultural values of femininity and modesty - often considered
a necessary part of raising a girl properly and preparing her for adulthood and
marriage. It is this aspect that makes it that much harder to fight. But the
battle has been on for years now, with concerted efforts being made to spread
awareness about FGM's life altering ill-effects for women.
Austrian filmmaker
Ronald Vaughan has been helping the Vienna-based African Woman Organisation
(AWO), which was established in 1996 primarily to address the shared problems
of women from Somalia, Ethiopia,
Eritrea, Sudan,
Nigeria, Senegal,
Egypt and other
African countries. Since 2003, he has been producing information videos and
reporting on the fight against FGM. On Mother's Day (May 9), Vaughan's
film on FGM, ‘The FGM Story’, was aired on Austria's
national television. "The problem of FGM is no longer confined to Africa
and parts of Asia but is being battled by Europe as
well," he says.
Vaughan's
film includes the portrait of an icon of the fight against FGM - Berhane
Ras-Work, President of the IAC-Inter-African Committee http://www.iac-ciaf.net/, who has been
working for the cause since 1984. An Ethiopian by birth, Ras-Work was recently
presented Austria's highest Order of
Merit by Barbara Prammer, President of the Austrian Parliament, at a grand
ceremony in Vienna.
Berhane
Ras-Work, President of the Inter-African Committee
(IAC), who has been working for the cause since 1984. (Credit:
Parlamentsdirektion/Bildagentur Zolles/Jaqueline Godany)
In the 1980s,
Ras-Work was living in Geneva, Switzerland,
when she decided to join the group of Europeans who wanted an end to FGM. She
is the first African woman to publicly demand the immediate eradication of the
practice and encourage a North-South dialogue on the subject. For 25 years she
has been urging the decision makers in Africa to face
the fact that FGM and economic success in the modern world do not go hand in
hand and that it is a sad reflection of the low economic status of women in the
region.
It is largely thanks
to women like Ras-Work and Dirie that the problem of FGM is being spoken about and
debated in public. Today, FGM is considered a violation of human rights,
physical integrity and reproductive health and the problem is being addressed
globally instead of being buried regionally and wrapped in shrouds of tradition
locally.
But this critical
advocacy started with the NGO Working Group on Traditional Practices way back
in 1977 in Geneva, with members of
26 NGOs enjoying consultative status with the UN. Years of lobbying and
networking by the NGO Working Group eventually led to the creation of the IAC
on Traditional Practices Affecting the Health of Women and Children in 1984
under the leadership of Ras-Work.
IAC's principal aim
is to empower women through information and education. The changes that have
taken place are very evident. Women all over Africa now
demand legislative measures to protect their daughters from traditionally
condoned violence such as FGM and question a ritual that has been disguised for
centuries as a cultural practice. Slowly but surely they are realising that the
sole purpose of practices like FGM is to control women and to limit their
freedom.
The exact figures on
FGM remain unclear, particularly in Europe as incidents
are often not reported. "We estimate that more than 155 million women worldwide
are affected by genital mutilation, a figure that rises by about two million
each year. This means that we are talking about roughly 5,500 victims every
day," reveals Gabriele Heinisch-Hosek, Austrian Minister for Women and
Civil Service.
In the European Union
alone around 500,000 girls and women are either affected or threatened by FGM.
During the last few decades Europe has received
thousands of immigrants and refugees from African countries and some continue
with the practice. Most European countries prohibit the practice but the laws
are seldom enforced. In the absence of a common cross-border agreement,
individual countries deal with the same problem differently. In Austria,
FGM is punishable for both physicians and parents under an amendment that has
been in force since 2002. Other European Union countries that consider it a
criminal offense include Belgium, Denmark,
Spain, Sweden
and the United KIngdom.
Of course, women are
being made aware of their rights through organisations like the IAC and AWO. Up
until 1998, the AWO was involved in facilitating integration activities and
creating platforms for African women in Austria
to discuss various women's issues. However, on International Women's Day in
1998, Barbara Prammer, who was the then the Austrian Minister for Women's
Affairs, had declared that no child born in Austria
should undergo FGM. This public support by the minister was a huge morale boost
to AWO, admits Ethenesh Hadis, the Founder President. And when Dirie released
her autobiography, 'Desert Flower' the same year, it inspired AWO to expose the
practice of FGM in Austria.
In fact, soon after
the release of 'Desert Flower' in Vienna,
the AWO began to collect background information on FGM to create awareness at
seminars and discussions in different cities across the country. "We have
also undertaken a study on the situation of FGM among immigrants here and it is
the first of its kind in Austria,"
adds Hadis.
Prammer, too, has
promised her continued support to the campaign, saying that parliaments have
the biggest responsibility to end violence against women, which is how she sees
FGM. "Initiatives like the Inter African Committee keep reminding us of
this responsibility," she says.
Some progress may
have been made in attacking the stereotypes attached to FGM and other
traditional practices affecting women and children, but the practice is far
from being eradicated.