The World Health Organization gives the definition for Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) as, ‘procedures that alter or cause injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons.’ The practice of FGM has been taking place in numerous countries worldwide for decades, including Pakistan. Much like in India, FGM is a well-kept secret in our country, acting as a blockade to women’s reproductive health and security.
Many doctors are oblivious to its existence and upon discovery, are shocked by the notion of such a practice. FGM was recently brought to the eye of the public in Pakistan in 2011, by Farah Zahidi Moazzam, a journalist who was investigating matters on reproductive health and gender issues. She wrote about the existence and rampant spread of this heinous act, in sections and communities all over the nation.
It was a hidden fact, evidentially subverted and suppressed to keep public opinion away. However, even after its discovery and the backlash that followed, FGM has not been eradicated in the country. How is this troubling practice accepted by Pakistan authorities and citizens in the 21st century? And what is being done to put an end to it?
There is no single point in history from which we can presume FGM began. Around 500 BC, Herodotus (a Greek historian) claimed ancient Egyptians had taken up the practice. Scholars and anthropologists have also reported cuts on mummies, often a sign that they stem from noble breeds. According to some historians, FGM can also be traced back to Africa, the Middle East. South East Asia and indigenous communities in Columbia.
FGM itself has four distinctive types. Clitoridectomy, which includes some form of removal of the clitoris, is the most common procedure. Infibulation, on the other hand, narrows the vaginal opening through the formation of a closure. There are other, more harmful processes that involve piercing, pricking, incising and even cauterizing that take place under the umbrella of FGM.
It has been reported that more than two hundred million women around the globe have undergone this torture early in their lives, and most do not survive.
FGM in Pakistan primarily finds its roots in the Bohra community, descended from the Shia sect. This includes about 100,000 individuals residing in the country, mainly in Sindh.
Almost sixty percent Bohra girls have to go through the trauma of FGM, which is now regarded as a ‘symbolic’ procedure rather than one related to culture or tradition. Due to a lack of information, the simple idea of this embolic practice is frightening because there is no assurance of what it entails.
Besides this, the practice itself provides no health benefits to women and is a regressive means of keeping the female body ‘chaste’ and ‘pure’. This worry correlate with the desire of chastity and virginity within most monotheistic religions, such as Islam.
However, an important point to note is that FGM is not mentioned in the Quran, and neither is male circumcision. Some scholars argue that the former practice is a part of Sunnah but others have pointed that it dates back to pre-Islamic Africa.
FGM has been made “a part of Islam” through decades of customs and a lack of awareness, but is kept hidden away. There was a recent report about a young girl who went through this ordeal when she was only six years old and this was only discovered years later when she visited a doctor to check for a cyst. What they found was in fact menstrual blood clotting due to her vaginal stitches, which had made her infertile.
Pakistani women from rural Sindh are not the only ones who undergo these horrors in the twenty-first century. British girls of Pakistani origin are also subjected to this awful practice, where they are whisked away at the promise of a vacation with their relatives. The reality that awaits them is FGM, waiting to be carried out in Pakistan, under complete secrecy.
There can be no credit given to FGM in regards to women’s health or any other benefit. The practice is not condoned by any religion or scripture and is considered to be inhumane by human rights organizations and activists worldwide.
Despite this, young girls are victims to this practice and face it early on in their adolescence. Some of these women are so heavily traumatized that they refuse to acknowledge this happened to them later in life and never speak of it.
The practice itself is stigmatized in educated communities within Pakistan and other Islamic countries, and the fact that people refuse to acknowledge its existence may be the reason why it has gone unchecked for this long.
Long term consequences of FGM include complication during pregnancy and birth, formation of irregular cysts, sexual dysfunction, damage to urethra and painful menstruation and intercourse to name a few. It also puts women at a higher risk of contracting HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases.
Biological issues aside, the psychological trauma it induces can have repercussions that last a lifetime, often leaving the victims with no sense of self or autonomy. These women are also left with chronic pain syndrome, which increases risks of severe depression.
As we make our way into a new decade, the practice of FGM needs to be abolished and uprooted for the betterment of women everywhere. FGM is a global concern and only by spreading awareness and punishing culprit communities will it be eliminated.
In Pakistan especially, careful implementation of laws need to be enacted against FGM and the education of the masses is needed in regards to the harm it causes, biological or otherwise. Once its presence is recognized in both urban and rural communities, it can be spoken about openly and then handled, head on and without restraint. Read about women’s mobility.
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