Attitudes on Female Genitalia Mutilation Changing, Practices Less So

Despite the fact that the majority of those living in the countries where it's practiced are against it, 30 million girls are currently at risk of undergoing genitalia mutilation, also known as female circumcision, within the next decade, according to a report by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).

The report surveyed 29 countries in Africa and the Middle East where the practice, which includes either cutting off all or part of the external genitalia, is concentrated. In doing so, those involved found that while support for the practice is in decline, this is not necessarily being matched in practice.

The reason, according to the study, lies in people's sense of social obligation and a lack of dialogue on the issue.

And nor is it simply the women who are eager to get rid of it: researchers found that the men of Chad, Guinea and Sierra Leone were even more anxious than the women to end the practice.

Roughly 125 million girls and women alive today have been subjected to the practice, which, aside from lacking any health benefits, is a source of excruciating pain for recipients in addition to short and long term health risks, such as severe bleeding, infertility, problems urinating and increased risk of newborn deaths in childbirth.

And while it has been virtually abandoned in some cases, it remains a deeply-entrenched rite of passage for many women in others, even sometimes where governments and organizations are working to convince the communities to stop.

For example, female genitalia mutilation is universally practiced in Somalia, Guinea, Djibouti and Egypt, with more than nine out of 10 of women and girls between 15 and 49 undergoing the procedure.

In contrast, the practice has declined in Kenya, Tanzania, Benin, Iraq, Liberia, Nigeria and the Central African Republic.

In countries such as Chad, Gambia, Mali, Senegal, Sudan or Yemen there has been no discernible decline, the study reports.

The practice "is a violation of a girl's rights to health, well-being and self-determination," UNICEF Deputy Executive Director Geeta Rao Gupta said in a press release. "What is clear from this report is that legislation alone is not enough. The challenge now is to let girls and women, boys and men speak out loudly and clearly and announce they want this harmful practice abandoned."

In order to do this, the authors of the study recommend opening up cutting, as it is sometimes called, to "greater public scrutiny" and to challenge "the misperception that 'everyone else' approves of the practice."

The study also highlights the role of education in bringing about social change, noting that mothers with higher levels of education were less likely to have their daughters undergo the procedure.

In order to be successful in doing this, the report outlines key steps in, for example, opening up dialogue on the issue where it's still practiced.

All in all, nearly 10,000 communities in 15 countries, representing about 8 million people, have renounced the practice since 2008. Then, in December 2012, a UN General Assembly resolution called on Member States to intensify efforts toward the complete elimination of the practice as some 1,775 communities across Africa publicly declared their commitment to end the practice.