War against FGM calls for change of tack

NAIROBI: The recent jailing of two women who chose to be circumcised and increasing cases of married women opting for the rite are raising questions over the social risks that face the anti-FGM campaign in Kenya.

The concepts of social risk and social licensing, both largely associated with interventions and large infrastructure projects, are questions that will continue to occupy anti-FGM stakeholders, especially the prosecutorial aspect where parents are incarcerated and children have to live without one or both parents.

In part, social risk is seen as the possibility that an intervention would create or deepen inequity or social conflict. That risk can be to the success of a project but also risk created by the project.

What can be seen as lack of social licence, the level of acceptance or approval of the activities has been cases of threats to local authorities or demonstrations against organisations running anti-FGM activities.

While the law expressly forbids FGM in Kenya, the effects of enforcement of the law at the family level is an issue that requires brave and frank interrogation if the campaign against the vice is to make long-lasting impact.

Prosecution of those who violate the law needs to be seen as the very last resort. Empowerment of communities that practice FGM, especially through the education of girls, needs to be given priority especially in terms of resources, so that the lasting momentum of change can start within the communities.

It is a message that was sent so clearly by the opinion of an Ilchamus elder recently, when he said that anti-FGM campaigners need to temper persecutions with empowerment.

Among his own six daughters, the eldest four have been circumcised, but the last two, now in secondary school, were able to convince him about the harmful effects of FGM and he gave in to their requests not to undergo the rite.

This is a powerful message, coming from a man in such a fiercely patriarchal community. “Years ago we were wearing shuka, but now we dress like everyone else. Nobody came here with high-level campaigns to convince us to dress conventionally,” he said.

It is not enough for stakeholders to stop at celebrating the number of persecutions of perpetrators of FGM. There is need to lay down proposed actions to manage the social issues created by the campaign.

Educating girls has a strong ripple effect leading to individual, family, community and national improvements. When girls are supported to stay in school, they will be more aware of the health risks of FGM and have a greater understanding of both the immediate and long term harm caused by it. They will influence their families and wider communities, teaching others about FGM and encouraging them to abandon the practice.

Legislation and the attendant prosecutions tend to be ineffective unless it is accompanied by measures to influence cultural traditions and expectations, because it fails to address the practice within its broader social context. This is why the recent pledge by the Government to provide free secondary education by next year is reason for optimism. So is the planned project by the World Bank to support access to quality education at the secondary level to adolescent girls in developing countries.

The bank plans to spend at least$2.5 billion to ensure the girls are enrolled and stay in school and provision of scholarships, conditional cash transfers, and schools with basic facilities like clean drinking water and toilets that promote enrolment.

Abhorrent as the practice of FGM is, we must wake up to the reality that change can create opportunities and benefits for people, but at the same time they can also create harmful effects.

Care must be taken to ensure that the benefits of such campaigns are maximised and the negative impacts are minimised.