Ensuring virginity? Outlawed, 21 lakh females in India undergo genital mutilation per yr

By Payal Mathur, Aditi Chaudhary*
Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) is one of the most pervasive, ongoing, and harmful human rights violations. Female genital mutilation (FGM) is just one of the forms in which it exercises violence against women. As per World Health Organisation (WHO), Female genital mutilation (FGM) is the procedure of partial or total removal of external female genitalia or other types of injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons.
It is carried out on young girls between infancy and adolescence, and sometimes on adult women. Though medically, the practice has no health benefits for girls and women yet is practised worldwide. And it is also ubiquitous across various African, Middle Eastern, and Asian nations. In India, an estimated 2.1 million girls and women undergo the procedure every year.
February 6th 2023, marks more than a decade of recognising The International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation. In India, too, the evil practice of FGM has been outlawed since 2016. Nevertheless, it continues to be practised in some parts of the country owing to its deeply entrenched cultural roots.
Despite the combined efforts of various stakeholders, there are still numerous segments of society where this cruel practice is ingrained. A massive number of people are not even aware of such a barbaric practice existing within the peer groups of their residents.
The discomforting reality is that it accompanies excruciating pain and causes severe bleeding and urinating problems, eventual cysts and infections. Undeniably, complications in childbirth and increased risk of newborn deaths are also concomitant. Irrespective of all this, it is extensively practised citing age-old customs and traditions. It holds the importance of the cultural distinctiveness of girls and women in diverse regions.
The practice is further worrying because it is typically done in a highly unsanitary way and the unhygienic procedure causes severe health issues like excruciating pain, profuse bleeding- haemorrhage, shock, menstrual problems, infections and even death. The long term effects of anxiety, depression, trauma and extreme pressure on the survivors' mental and sexual heath cannot be ignored.
The reasons why people practice FGM vary from one society to another. In some cases, it is seen as a way to control female sexuality and ensure virginity before the marriage. In other cases, it is a way to protect family honour or reduce the risk of promiscuity among women. Some ethnic communities follow it to restrain sexual acts between youth members of the group.
Some newly established groups follow it to maintain ethnicity (identity protection in case groups migrate and displace a lot). All of it is done under the belief that keeping the group's distinctness during social disruptions is crucial. Whatever the reason, FGM has severe physical and psychological consequences for those who have to undergo it.

Since 2008, UNFPA and UNICEF have been in charge of the most remarkable global effort to end FGM in 30 nations. In conjunction with governments, NGOs and other decision-makers of the UNFPA-UNICEF joint Programme, they are working tirelessly towards ending this practice. According to a UNFPA estimation, 2 million FGMs will occur in the next decade due to program interruptions during the pandemic.
Given the situation, the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) of eliminating FGM by 2030 seems like a far-fetched dream.
What can we as a society do?

The media plays a critical role in spreading factual information to households and educating people about the necessity of positive change. It might raise people's awareness and motivate them to oppose this disgusting practice.
Through a flexible and open mindset, people can understand their rights related to FGM. Stakeholders can use various traditional communication techniques, such as drama, poetry, dance, music, and storytelling, to communicate the problems associated with FGM.
To help patients and communities understand the negative impacts of FGM, healthcare providers like ASHA workers and ANMs can raise awareness. We need to educate women about their sexual and reproductive rights and reproductive health in order to assist them in realising the ill effects of FGM. Additionally, health professionals can provide outreach initiatives, including community and school health education, to increase awareness.
The road ahead involves promoting and defending human rights which are the direct responsibilities of UN organisations. All sexual and reproductive rights programmes related to adolescents and young girls should have a particular focus on this. Girls in such an age group already undergo substantial physical, psychological and social changes; at that tender age dealing with another of such issues is a war and nightmare for young girls and women.
Keeping all this in mind, the decision-makers must include FGM in various policies to bring change. Inaction is not an option; to permanently end FGM, we must get together, spread awareness, and take action. The wholesome development of all women and girls cannot be unilaterally done but can only be achieved by ensuring equitable access to healthcare, work and educational opportunities; only that would hasten the end of FGM.
---
*Respectively: PhD Scholar. Amity University, Jaipur; PhD Scholar, International Institute for Population Sciences, Mumbai

Comments

1857 War of Independence... when Hindu-Muslim separatism, hatred wasn't an issue

"The Sepoy Revolt at Meerut", Illustrated London News, 1857 By Shamsul Islam* Large sections of Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs unitedly challenged the greatest imperialist power, Britain, during India’s First War of Independence which began on May 10, 1857; the day being Sunday. This extraordinary unity, naturally, unnerved the firangees and made them realize that if their rule was to continue in India, it could happen only when Hindus and Muslims, the largest two religious communities were divided on communal lines.

The curious case of multiple entries of a female voter of Maharashtra: What ECI's online voter records reveal

By Venkatesh Nayak* Cyberspace is agog with data, names and documents which question the reliability of the electoral rolls prepared by the electoral bureaucracy in Maharashtra prior to the General Elections conducted in 2024. One such example of deep dive probing has brought to the surface, the name of one female voter in the 132-Nalasopara (Gen) Vidhan Sabha Constituency in Maharashtra. Nalasopara is part of the Palghar (ST) Lok Sabha constituency. This media report claims that this individual's name figures multiple times in the voter list of the same constituency.

N-power plant at Mithi Virdi: CRZ nod is arbitrary, without jurisdiction

By Krishnakant* A case-appeal has been filed against the order of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) and others granting CRZ clearance for establishment of intake and outfall facility for proposed 6000 MWe Nuclear Power Plant at Mithi Virdi, District Bhavnagar, Gujarat by Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) vide order in F 11-23 /2014-IA- III dated March 3, 2015. The case-appeal in the National Green Tribunal at Western Bench at Pune is filed by Shaktisinh Gohil, Sarpanch of Jasapara; Hajabhai Dihora of Mithi Virdi; Jagrutiben Gohil of Jasapara; Krishnakant and Rohit Prajapati activist of the Paryavaran Suraksha Samiti. The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has issued a notice to the MoEF&CC, Gujarat Pollution Control Board, Gujarat Coastal Zone Management Authority, Atomic Energy Regulatory Board and Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) and case is kept for hearing on August 20, 2015. Appeal No. 23 of 2015 (WZ) is filed, a...

Spirit of leadership vs bondage: Of empowered chairman of 100-acre social forestry coop

By Gagan Sethi* This is about Khoda Sava, a young Dalit belonging to the Vankar sub-caste, who worked as a bonded labourer in a village near Vadgam in Banskantha district of North Gujarat. The year was 1982. Khoda had taken a loan of Rs 7,000 from the village sarpanch, a powerful landlord doing money-lending as his side business. Khoda, who had taken the loan for marriage, was landless. Normally, villagers would mortgage their land if they took loan from the sarpanch. But Khoda had no land. He had no option but to enter into a bondage agreement with the sarpanch in order to repay the loan. Working in bondage on the sarpanch’s field meant that he would be paid Rs 1,200 per annum, from which his loan amount with interest would be deducted. He was also obliged not to leave the sarpanch’s field and work as daily wager somewhere else. At the same time, Khoda was offered meal once a day, and his wife job as agricultural worker on a “priority basis”. That year, I was working as secretary...

Proposed Modi yatra from Jharkhand an 'insult' of Adivasi hero Birsa Munda: JMM

Counterview Desk The civil rights network, Jharkhand Janadhikar Mahasabha (JMM), which claims to have 30 grassroots groups under its wings, has decided to launch Save Democracy campaign to oppose Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Vikasit Bharat Sankalp Yatra to be launched on November 15 from the village of legendary 19th century tribal independence leader Birsa Munda from Ulihatu (Khunti district).

Ground reality: Israel would a remain Jewish state, attempt to overthrow it will be futile

By NS Venkataraman* Now that truce has been arrived at between Israel and Hamas for a period of four days and with release of a few hostages from both sides, there is hope that truce would be further extended and the intensity of war would become significantly less. This likely “truce period” gives an opportunity for the sworn supporters and bitter opponents of Hamas as well as Israel and the observers around the world to introspect on the happenings and whether this war could have been avoided. There is prolonged debate for the last several decades as to whom the present region that has been provided to Jews after the World War II belong. View of some people is that Jews have been occupants earlier and therefore, the region should belong to Jews only. However, Christians and those belonging to Islam have also lived in this regions for long period. While Christians make no claim, the dispute is between Jews and those who claim themselves to be Palestinians. In any case...

Two more "aadhaar-linked" Jharkhand deaths: 17 die of starvation since Sept 2017

Kaleshwar's sons Santosh and Mantosh Counterview Desk A fact-finding team of the Right to Feed Campaign, pointing towards the death of two more persons due to starvation in Jharkhand, has said that this has happened because of the absence of aadhaar, leading to “persistent lack of food at home and unavailability of any means of earning.” It has disputed the state government claims that these deaths are due to reasons other than starvation, adding, the authorities have “done nothing” to reduce the alarming state of food insecurity in the state.

A comrade in culture and controversy: Yao Wenyuan’s revolutionary legacy

By Harsh Thakor* This year marks two important anniversaries in Chinese revolutionary history—the 20th death anniversary of Yao Wenyuan, and the 50th anniversary of his seminal essay "On the Social Basis of the Lin Biao Anti-Party Clique". These milestones invite reflection on the man whose pen ignited the first sparks of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution and whose sharp ideological interventions left an indelible imprint on the political and cultural landscape of socialist China.

Morbi’s ceramic workers face silicosis epidemic, 92% denied legal health benefits: PTRC study

By Rajiv Shah A new study by the Gujarat-based health rights organisation, Peoples Training and Research Centre (PTRC), warns that most workers in Morbi district’s ceramic industry—which produces 90% of India’s ceramic output—are at high risk of contracting silicosis, a deadly occupational disease.

Search This Blog