Female Genital
Mutilation
Fact Sheet N°241
Updated February 2013
Key facts
- Female genital mutilation (FGM) includes procedures
that intentionally alter or cause injury to the female genital organs for
non-medical reasons.
- The procedure has no health benefits for girls and
women.
- Procedures can cause severe bleeding and problems
urinating, and later cysts, infections, infertility as well as complications
in childbirth increased risk of newborn deaths.
- About 140 million girls and women worldwide are
currently living with the consequences of FGM.
- FGM is mostly carried out on young girls sometime
between infancy and age 15.
- In Africa an estimated 101 million girls 10 years old
and above have undergone FGM.
- FGM is a violation of the human rights of girls and
women.
Female genital mutilation (FGM) comprises 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.
The practice is mostly carried out by traditional circumcisers, who often
play other central roles in communities, such as attending childbirths.
However, more than 18% of all FGM is performed by health care providers, and
this trend is increasing.
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.
Procedures
Female genital mutilation is classified into four major types.
- Clitoridectomy: partial or total removal of the
clitoris (a small, sensitive and erectile part of the female genitals)
and, in very rare cases, only the prepuce (the fold of skin surrounding
the clitoris).
- Excision: partial or total removal of the clitoris and
the labia minora, with or without excision of the labia majora (the labia
are "the lips" that surround the vagina).
- Infibulation: narrowing of the vaginal opening through
the creation of a covering seal. The seal is formed by cutting and
repositioning the inner, or outer, labia, with or without removal of the
clitoris.
- Other: all other harmful procedures to the female
genitalia for non-medical purposes, e.g. pricking, piercing, incising,
scraping and cauterizing the genital area.
No health benefits,
only harm
FGM 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.
Immediate complications can include severe pain, shock, haemorrhage
(bleeding), tetanus or sepsis (bacterial infection), urine retention, open
sores in the genital region and injury to nearby genital tissue.
Long-term consequences can include:
- recurrent bladder and urinary tract infections;
- cysts;
- infertility;
- an increased risk of childbirth complications and
newborn deaths;
- the need for later surgeries. For example, the FGM
procedure that seals or narrows a vaginal opening (type 3 above) needs to
be cut open later to allow for sexual intercourse and childbirth.
Sometimes it is stitched again several times, including after childbirth,
hence the woman goes through repeated opening and closing procedures,
further increasing and repeated both immediate and long-term risks.
Who is at risk?
Procedures are mostly carried out on young girls sometime between infancy
and age 15, and occasionally on adult women. In Africa, more than three million
girls have been estimated to be at risk for FGM annually.
About 140 million girls and women worldwide are living with the consequences
of FGM. In Africa, about 101 million girls age 10 years and above are estimated
to have undergone FGM.
The practice is most common in the western, eastern, and north-eastern
regions of Africa, in some countries in Asia and the Middle East, and among
migrants from these areas.
Cultural, religious
and social causes
The causes of female genital mutilation include a mix of cultural, religious
and social factors within families and communities.
- Where FGM is a social convention, the social pressure
to conform to what others do and have been doing is a strong motivation to
perpetuate the practice.
- FGM is often considered a necessary part of raising a
girl properly, and a way to prepare her for adulthood and marriage.
- FGM is often motivated by beliefs about what is
considered proper sexual behaviour, linking procedures to premarital
virginity and marital fidelity. FGM is in many communities believed to
reduce a woman's libido and therefore believed to help her resist
"illicit" sexual acts. When a vaginal opening is covered or narrowed
(type 3 above), the fear of the pain of opening it, and the fear that this
will be found out, is expected to further discourage "illicit"
sexual intercourse among women with this type of FGM.
- FGM is associated with cultural ideals of femininity
and modesty, which include the notion that girls are “clean” and
"beautiful" after removal of body parts that are considered
"male" or "unclean".
- Though no religious scripts prescribe the practice,
practitioners often believe the practice has religious support.
- Religious leaders take varying positions with regard to
FGM: some promote it, some consider it irrelevant to religion, and others
contribute to its elimination.
- Local structures of power and authority, such as
community leaders, religious leaders, circumcisers, and even some medical
personnel can contribute to upholding the practice.
- In most societies, FGM is considered a cultural
tradition, which is often used as an argument for its continuation.
- In some societies, recent adoption of the practice is
linked to copying the traditions of neighbouring groups. Sometimes it has
started as part of a wider religious or traditional revival movement.
- In some societies, FGM is practised by new groups when
they move into areas where the local population practice FGM.
International
response
In December 2012, the UN General Assembly accepted a resolution on the
elimination of female genital mutilation.
In 2010 WHO published a "Global strategy to stop health care providers
from performing female genital mutilation" in collaboration with other key
UN agencies and international organizations.
In 2008 WHO together with 9 other United Nations partners, issued a new
statement on the elimination of FGM to support increased advocacy for the
abandonment of FGM. The 2008 statement provides evidence collected over the
past decade about the practice. It highlights the increased recognition of the
human rights and legal dimensions of the problem and provides data on the frequency
and scope of FGM. It also summarizes research about on why FGM continues, how
to stop it, and its damaging effects on the health of women, girls and newborn
babies.
The new statement builds on the original from 1997 that WHO issued together
with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the United Nations
Population Fund (UNFPA).
Since 1997, great efforts have been made to counteract FGM, through
research, work within communities, and changes in public policy. Progress at
both international and local levels includes:
- wider international involvement to stop FGM;
- international monitoring bodies and resolutions that
condemn the practice;
- revised legal frameworks and growing political support
to end FGM (this includes a law against FGM in 24 African countries, and
in several states in two other countries, as well as 12 industrialized
countries with migrant populations from FGM practicing countries);
- in most countries, the prevalence of FGM has decreased,
and an increasing number of women and men in practising communities
support ending its practice.
Research shows that, if practicing communities themselves decide to abandon
FGM, the practice can be eliminated very rapidly.
WHO response
In 2008, the World Health Assembly passed a resolution (WHA61.16) on the
elimination of FGM, emphasizing the need for concerted action in all sectors -
health, education, finance, justice and women's affairs.
WHO efforts to eliminate female genital mutilation focus on:
- strengthening the health sector response: guidelines,
training and policy to ensure that health professionals can provide
medical care and counselling to girls and women living with FGM;
- building evidence: generating knowledge about the
causes and consequences of the practice, how to eliminate it, and how to
care for those who have experienced FGM;
- increasing advocacy: developing publications and
advocacy tools for international, regional and local efforts to end FGM
within a generation.
WHO is particularly concerned about the increasing trend for medically
trained personnel to perform FGM. WHO strongly urges health professionals not
to perform such procedures.