Social norms, practices and attitudes in African societies hinder the lives, survival and development of girls.
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Articles on Female genital mutilation
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Political change could open up civil spaces and support the voices of young women and girls who do not want to be cut.
Why ‘stigmatising’ and ‘traumatising’ approaches to FGM safeguarding are in urgent need of a review.
An estimated 2000 million women have undergone female genital mutilation and millions more are at risk. The practice is carried out mainly for cultural and economic reasons.
Close to 4 million teenage girls are subjected to breast ironing worldwide. This harmful cultural practice, which is most prevalent in West and Central Africa, needs to stop.
Efforts to end female genital mutilation are mostly designed by global and national agencies and risk ignoring change agents like the youth who are against the practice.
Efforts to discourage girls from being cut in Tanzania have changed the cultural meaning and practices around the ceremonial rite of passage.
Thousands of Liberian women have banded together to bring about peace and to fight for women’s rights. They’ve changed the face of the African nation.
The UK’s FGM Act is discriminatory and inconsistent.
Hollywood’s sexual predation scandals are just the tip of the iceberg. One in three women worldwide has been physically or sexually assaulted, and many girls’ first sexual experience is forced.
The international media and her supporters continue to hoist Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf up as the matron of African women’s rights. But she does not deserve this title.
Until we safeguard every child from all forms of violence, opposition to genital cutting will not be an Australian value.
Female genital mutilation is largely hidden in Australia and other high-income countries. But the United Nations says it is a global concern – and our research found it does affect girls here.
A new study suggests women who undergo FGM in societies where it is prevalent have more surviving children – but the evidence isn’t strong enough.
In Sudan, female genital cutting is common among many communities. The use of movies that debate this question could change people’s opinions about the practice.
Despite high levels of knowledge and information, communities still adhere to cultural practices which endanger their children.
Female genital mutilation have long been carried out by traditional circumcisers in Indonesia. In recent years, the ritual has been increasingly institutionalised into medical practice.
On 21 March, the Crown Prosecution Service announced the first prosecution of a person accused of female genital mutilation (FGM) in the UK. Dr Dhanuson Dharmasena, a doctor at the Whittington Hospital…
Female genital mutilation (FGM) is happening across the UK but despite being illegal for nearly 30 years, there have been no convictions. Fortunately, politicians are beginning to pick up on the issue…
Top contributors
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Professor of International Development Studies, University of Portsmouth
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Professor of Paediatrics & Child Health and Director of the Australian Paediatric Surveillance Unit, University of Sydney
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Senior Lecturer in Law, University of Adelaide
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Alison Macfarlane is a Friend of The Conversation.
Professor of Perinatal Health, City, University of London
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Professor in Development Geography, Coventry University
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Senior lecturer in Social Research, University of Bristol
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Lecturer in Law, University of Birmingham
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Assistant Professor in International Social and Public Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science
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Professor of Law, Conflict and Global Development, University of Reading
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Associate Professor (Archaeology), University of South Africa
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Professor of Women's Health, King's College London
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Lecturer, Faculty of Public Health, Universitas Indonesia
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Director of Research, Australian Paediatric Surveillance Unit and Associate Professor Discipline of Child and Adolescent Health, University of Sydney
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PhD Candidate, International Human Rights Law, University of Adelaide
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Senior Researcher, University of Zurich
