Heather Bellamy spoke with Ann-Marie Wilson from 28 Too Many about the recent Summit and the impact of FGM on young girls

Ann-Marie Wilson

It is estimated that 30 million girls in Africa are at risk of female genital mutilation in the next ten years, and many more in the diaspora communities. According to a recent report by the UK Parliament Home Affairs Select Committee, as many as 66 thousand girls aged 13 and under are at risk in the UK. On 22nd July the UK Government hosted the first Girl Summit bringing the international community together to commit to end female genital mutilation and child marriage. To find out more Heather Bellamy spoke with Ann-Marie Wilson, the Executive Director of 28 Too Many.

Heather: So could you start by telling us what genital mutilation is, for those of us who don't know?

Ann-Marie: Of course. This is a cultural practice that is pre-Islamic and pre-Christian. It has been around for about 2,000 years and is likely to have come from the Red Sea area; either Egypt or Sudan. It is practised by 28 countries in Africa, a number in the Middle East and Asia and all the diaspora populations where people settle from those communities. It is particularly practised for reasons of proof of virginity on marriage, for chastity in marriage, to go against various myths and untruths that are believed and also probably have some correlation with the role of women in certain societies.

Heather: Without being too graphic, what specifically is it? What is done to the girls?

Ann-Marie: I'll do it in medical terms and then people won't get too offended. There are four types: one is the clitoridectomy, so it's cutting out a woman's clitoris; the second type is the same, a clitoridectomy and cutting off the labia minora; type three is the most dramatic and is called infibulation and it's cutting out the clitoris, cutting off the labia minora and the labia majora and sewing a girl up to leave a very small hole, probably the size of a grain of rice, through which she is expected to urinate, menstruate, have sexual intercourse and have a baby. Then type four is various other types, such as pulling, or cutting, or intrusion of herbs, or lacerations. All four can cause dramatic, immediate problems; 10% of people are likely to haemorrhage and die instantly of blood loss or septicaemia, tetanus, etc.; various other people get infections that means they're infertile; and it can also cause acute pain and psychotic problems, either trauma, post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, anxiety and other similar problems.

Heather: Do these girls have a choice?

Ann-Marie: No, usually not. It's done at different ages in different groups. It can be done almost like the parallels of male circumcision in some groups at eight days old or so. In Tanzania it used to be done at puberty, but it's now gone down to about two years old to avoid the law. In some societies it's done at puberty, so the most common age group is probably between five and 10. Somalis tend to do it at about five years old, but it can be up to puberty rituals, so 10-11, before periods start.

Heather: At that age they can't run away and make choices for themselves either, can they?

Ann-Marie: That's right, although some girls at about 10, who are educated in Kenya for instance, some of the Masai population that have been traditionally nomadic and are now pastoralist, they do go to school and they learn in health clubs that this is a harmful practice and will cause all sorts of problems later on in marriage and childbirth and they do run away. I met two girls a few years ago with amazing stories: they ran away respectively to an aunt and a grandma and then went back to their community and changed the whole of their community to actually abandon this practice.

Heather: That's amazing. From a health point of view who does this? Is it done in hospitals or backstreet alleys? Medically speaking, how are they looked after?

Ann-Marie: In most places in rural communities it's done by a circumciser or cutter, often a grandma-aged woman, possibly their own grandma, and this will be an eldership right. Girls are often married at 10, have their first baby at 12, so could be having a grandchild at 24 or so - they get to the age of maturity much quicker than we do. So a circumciser could be up to her 80s with very poor sight and it's very difficult to cut these parts accurately out in the blazing sun of 50 degrees with a bit of tin roof, or a bit of glass, or a broken bit of knife, or a first- or multiply-used razor blade. It causes all sorts of problems. Having said that, in Egypt, which has got the highest prevalence in the world, it is being increasingly medicalised, so it'll be done in a medical setting, maybe by a nurse or a health worker, so possibly with anaesthetic and certainly with a clean razor blade. However, a girl died last year at, I think, 12 years old in the hands of a male surgeon, so it still causes a lot of problems. A girl in Sierra Leone died this June at nine years old in the middle of her circumcision ceremony.

Heather: You shared earlier of a wonderful story of girls coming back changing their communities - but how strong is the community perspective on this, that if girls did run away, would there be a sense of ostracising, because they would bring shame on their community, or are they welcomed back and allowed that free choice?

Ann-Marie: I think in most cases the stories aren't as positive as the one I told you. Many times we hear of girls running away who are then found at the border, or sent back by a neighbouring community. Sometimes, if they would have had one of the lesser types of FGM - type one, or type two: clitoridectomy and labia minora cuts - they might as punishment have type three just to teach them a lesson and to teach the other girls a lesson not to do the same.

Heather: How big an issue is general violence against women in the communities that take part in female genital mutilation?