Female genital mutilation

Female genital mutilation (FGM), also known as female genital cutting and female circumcision, is the ritual removal of some or all of the external female genitalia. UNICEF estimated in 2016 that 200 million women had undergone the procedures in 27 countries in Africa, as well as in Indonesia, Iraqi Kurdistan and Yemen, with a rate of 80–98 percent within the 15–49 age group in Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Guinea, Mali, Sierra Leone, Somalia and Sudan. The practice is also found elsewhere in Asia, the Middle East, and among communities from these areas around the world. There are many negative health effects.

"A new United Nations survey of male attitudes toward “gender equality” finds precious little appetite for it across the Middle East. [...] Egypt scored the lowest on the report’s “Gender Equitable Men” scale and is the source of the most striking headlines. For example, CNS News reports that “70 percent of Egyptian men approve of female genital mutilation.” For that matter, 56 percent of Egyptian women also voiced approval for the hideous procedure, which is illegal but not unheard-of, in much of the world. [...] Promundo CEO Gary Barker told Reuters that “everywhere else we have done these research… young men typically have more progressive views that their fathers and the older generation. That was not so here.”"

Migration

Mass immigration has caused female genital mutilation to appear also in Western countries. In 2015-2016 there were 5,700 new cases of female genital mutilation recorded in England. In 18 cases the practice had been undertaken in the UK.

References

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