Christian Science Monitor Examines Efforts To End Genital Cutting In Kenya

Main Category: Women's Health / Gynecology
Also Included In: Sexual Health / STDs
Article Date: 17 Mar 2008 - 9:00 PDT

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The Christian Science Monitor on Thursday examined challenges faced by advocates attempting to curb female genital cutting, also known as female genital mutilation and female circumcision, as well as adolescents attempting to avoid the practice in places where it is common. According to the Monitor, changing the cultural practice -- which is still prevalent in some countries in the Middle East and the Horn of Africa -- "can be a difficult process, even in a fairly well-off and well-educated country like Kenya."

The Monitor recounts the story of Millicent, a member of the Masai tribe in Kenya, who left her village at age 13 to escape the practice. At age 18, she is living at the Tasaru Girls Rescue Center, which offers girls who have left their villages an opportunity to continue schooling and avoid genital cutting by receiving an "alternative right of passage" that includes traditional rituals and health information, according to the Monitor. Agnes Paraiyo, founder of the center, said the program is slowly reducing the number of girls who undergo genital cutting but added that some families will not reconcile with girls who left for the center.

Kenya banned genital cutting in 1982 and again in 1989, but a 1998 Ministry of Health survey found that more than half of women over age 35 and about 38% of young women between the ages of 15 and 19 had undergone genital cutting. Among the Masai, the practice is even more common -- at 89%. Although research shows that genital cutting contributes to thousands of miscarriages and maternal deaths annually worldwide, many Kenyans believe the practice has health benefits and teaches young women about pregnancy, raising children, relations with husbands and "proper behavior within the clans," the Monitor reports.

Advocates are focusing on ways to involve those who find meaning in the practice. "You cannot do this by force," Ben Ole Koissaba, advocate and chair of the Masai Civil Society Forum in Kenya, said, adding, "Culture is dynamic, culture can adapt, but good sustainable cultural change comes from within." Florence Gachanja, country representative for the United Nations Population Fund, said the solution to end the practice in areas where it is "deeply rooted" is to "come up with something that is accepted by the community, to use culturally accepted practice, involve the elders and maybe the religious leaders. And then if you can use a role model ... who has not undergone circumcision, then people can say, 'Wow, she's normal'" (Baldauf, Christian Science Monitor, 3/13).

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