Female Genital Mutilation (FMG)

We had a session today on Gender and Development.  This is such a big issue in Mali.  Looks like I'm going to have to join a couple of these groups.  Not to go in there with guns blazing but hopefully to help the understand the necessity for some things and the unnecessity for others. 


Practice: The most common forms of female genital mutilation (FGM) or female genital cutting (FGC) throughout Mali are Type I (commonly referred to as clitoridectomy) and Type II (commonly referred to as excision), despite the fact that Malian women’s groups have been actively campaigning against this practice for over a decade. The more radical form, Type III (Commonly referred to as infibulations), is practiced in some of the southern areas of the country.

The incidence of these procedures among the women varies very little by age, religion or level of education. A recent survey found that three-quarters of the women between the ages of 15 and 49 favored continuing this practice.

Incidence: A United States Agency for International Development (USAID) funded Demographic and Health Survey of 9,704 women aged 15 to 49 in Mali was conducted in 1999 jointly by the Malian government and a private firm. The report put the percentage of women in this age range that had undergone one of these procedures at 93.7 percent.

The commission for the Promotion of Women estimates that as many as 96 percent of women and girls of women and girls living in rural areas and 92 percent of women and girls living in urban areas have been subjected to one of these procedures. Of the various forms, between 80 and 85 percent of the women affected have been subjected to Type I or Type II.

The practice crosses religious, ethnic, age and geographic lines. Only among the ethnic groups in the north of the country is the prevalence low. The Muslim Songhai, Tuareg and Moor populations, in general, do not practice any form. This accounts for the low prevalence in the northern regions of Tombouctou and Gao – 9.3 percent of the women. These areas are also the most sparsely populated.

The practice is found among more than 95 percent of the women and girls in the southern half of Mali, predominately populated by the Bambara, Soninke, Peul, Dogon and Senoufo ethnic groups. These groups include Muslims and Christians, as well as Animists. In Bamako and Koulikoro in Southern Mali, the rates reported are 95.3 percent and 99.3 percent respectively.

The actual practice varies according to ethnic group. In the past this practice was part of the marriage ceremony, the procedure performed on girls aged 14 or 15. The custom has changed and the age lowered. Some groups excise girls at an early age between birth and five years of age. It is common to subject girls as young as 20 days old to the procedure. The rationale is that wounds heal more effectively at a very young age. According to the Population Council, 37 percent of girls undergo the procedure before they reach school age.