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FGM (Female Genital Mutilation)
The legitimacy of female genital mutilation, or women's circumcision, whether under religious or civil law, has always been a very important subject to discuss among doctors, jurists and opponents and proponents of FGM.
CEWLA's experience in resisting FGM with the help of the community leaders in Boulaq:
The Center's philosophy is to help people so that they can support and advance themselves and their society.
As a result, in order to address the problem of FGM, CEWLA adopted the method of working with community leaders in cooperation with the Center for Development and Population Activities (CEDPA).
The first step was to train staff and leaders of CEWLA to work with local leaders to resist FGM. Community leaders are people from inside the society of Boulaq who are opponents of FGM. They can be doctors, nurses or midwives who refuse to perform the circumcision operation.
In addition to the medical professionals, there are sheikhs and priests who declare their disapproval of women's circumcision.
At the beginning, CEWLA's project team was not quite sure if the people of Boulaq would agree to cooperate with them, for Boulaq is a closed area, controlled by old traditions.
It is not easy to find residents who will declare their disapproval of FGM openly.
However, the work started and the team began to:
1) look for people who are against FGM .
2) hold discussion sessions for them to strengthen their attitude against FGM .
3) train them how to discuss FGM with the inhabitants of Boulaq and convince them against it .
CEWLA also collaborated with CEDPA by organizing workshops for active NGOs to raise their staff's and beneficiaries' awareness of the danger of FGM. Two workshops, one for staff and one for beneficiaries, were held in each of two local organizations, the Islamic Charitable Organization and the Motamedeya Women's Organization.
All together 100 girls and women participated in these four workshops:
44% were married, 25% were single, 3% were divorced, and 10% were widowed.
When they were asked who decides whether the girls get circumcised or not, 60% answered the mother of the family, 29% the grandmother, and 11% the father.
We realized that 89% of those who decided for FGM were women themselves. When CEWLA asked about the reasons behind the decision, 68% answered it is required in the religion and that it prevents unacceptable behavior.
When they were asked about the most effective way to stop FGM,
-59% voted for: NGOs should adopt the issue seriously.
-49% voted for: Raise the problem of FGM in the media.
-53% voted for: Home visits.
-43% voted for: Include the issue in the school curriculum.
(Note: some women shared more than one suggestion)
Furthermore, two other workshops were held for the community leaders to train them on communication and negotiation skills. They were also provided with booklets and posters resisting FGM. In addition, the Center organized a drawing competition on the topic and received more than 10 entries.
Field research:
To get acquainted with the Egyptian family attitude towards FGM, CEWLA ran a field research project, choosing 10 streets in Boulaq and interviewing120 families with daughters between the age of 7and 10 who might not yet have been circumcised The Center is planning to continue working with these families in a second stage of the project to raise their awareness about the dangers of FGM.
Some results of the field research:
- 63% of those interviewed were proponents of FGM .
- 32% were opponents of FGM .
- 5% were undecided .
Who makes the decision to have the FGM operation?
- 76% said mothers
- 15% grandmothers
- 6% fathers
Who performs the operation?
- 47.5% doctors
- 40% midwives
- 9.5% hairdressers
Outcomes:
1) Since 63% of the families approve of FGM, 32% are against it and 5% are undecided, CEWLA is determined to work on the families who are undecided first. CEWLA will then concentrate on the families who are proponents of FGM. Finally the Center will work on the families that resist FGM to support them and use them to convince other families.
2) CEWLA will concentrate on the girls of the ages between 7 and 10, since most girls get circumcised at this age. The Center is also determined not to neglect girls under seven, so that there will be enough time to convince their families not to circumcise them. In addition, the Center will also work with girls above ten, because some of them are not circumcised yet.
3) Significant efforts must be undertaken to change women's attitudes and the ways of thinking about FGM, since 91% of the decision makers concerning the FGM operations are women. Therefore many of messages of the campaign must be specifically directed towards women.
4) Efforts should also concentrate on doctors and midwives since combined they perform the vast majority of FGM operations.
5) We should emphasize the medical/physical and psychological effects of FGM when addressing and convincing families.
6) We should engage the media in resisting FGM.
7) We should also organize campaigns to raise the awareness of fathers by paying home visits and distributing booklets, posters and stickers resisting FGM.
8) FGM has to be inserted in the school curriculum.
9) Community leaders must play an active role if the campaigns are to succeed.
10) Efforts done by the organizations working on FGM have to be documented so that everyone can benefit from them and avoid the negative experiences.
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