By: Makalay Saidiatu Sonda (Head of Media, Feminist United Sierra Leone and Allies; Founder and Director Moonteen)

Female Genital Mutilation is considered a human right violation. It hinders on the health and integrity of girls and women. FGM comprises of any procedure that includes altering or injuring the female genitalia for non-medical reasons.

There are basically four types of FGM: Type 1, type 2, type 3 and type 4. Type 1 comprises partial or total removal of the clitoris and/ or its prepuce. This type of FGM is also known as clitoridectomy.

Type 2 is known as excision, and it includes removing the clitoris and labia minora partially or totally with or without excision of the labia majora.

Type 3 is the most severe form of the practice. It is also known as infibulation or pharaonic type. This type consists of narrowing the vaginal orifice with creation of a covering seal by cutting and oppositioning the labia minora and / or labia majora with or without removal of the clitoris. Also the genitalia is stitched closed leaving a little opening for urine or menstruation.

Type 4 includes all procedure to the genitalia of women and girls for non-medical reasons- this consist of acts such as pricking, piercing, incising, scraping and cauterization.

The description of the different type of FGM shows that it is clearly a barbaric practice, and no one deserve to go through such. The most private part of one’s body is being invaded in most cases without consent.

FGM has survived for this long because our society is mainly patriarchal and women and girls’ sexuality is perceived as nothing but for the satisfaction of the male counterpart. This kind of mindset that we have internalized has turned women and girls to victims and potential victims of rape, abuse, sexual assault etc.

With this kind of mindset men see women and girls nothing more than ‘something’ in the bedroom. It is a sad reality that we have refused to come to terms with. It is buried deeply in our subconscious.

We wonder why rape, abuse and sexual assault are rampant. Yet still we have failed to open our minds and look deeply into the bigger landscape. We have refused to solve the root causes that birth these menaces.

Gender inequality, sexism, gender biases, and stereotypes are root causes. We are making not very much effort to challenge these societal biases. How can we then fight rape and abuse? Mindset needs to be changed.

Here are some quick facts:
*Globally, girls are being married off at a rate of 33,000 a day
*An estimated 650 million women alive today were married as children
*130 million girls are out of school
*Half a billion women can’t read
*Almost one third of all women who have been in a relationship have experienced physical and/or sexual violence by their intimate partner.
*Globally, 44% of girls aged 15-19 think a husband is entitled to beat his wife.
*Globally, girls aged 5-14 spend 550 million hours every day on household chores, 160 million more hours than boys their age spend
*Women and girls make up 96% of those trafficked for sexual exploitation.
( Source: One.org (2018); accessed: 6/2/2020 )

What are we doing to improve the status of women and girls in Sierra Leone and the World? Are we pushing and advocating for a practice that has nothing to do with empowering women and girls just in the name of traditions and culture and forsaking issues that we should take seriously such as education, health and giving girls opportunities to realize their potentialities etc.?
FGM is a global issue and it is not only practised because of tradition. It is practised outside Africa and even in the West. Eradicating FGM is not about upholding western ideology but upholding humanity. Every human being is born free and should live in dignity. The creator made women perfect as they are, there is no need for them to be ashamed of their anatomy and there is no need for anyone to alter it.

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