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Al-Ahram Weekly 4 -10 February 1999 Issue No. 415 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 4 -10 February 1999 Issue No. 415
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Book Fair Economy Opinion Culture Features Living Travel Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Progress of sorts
By Mariz TadrosNon-governmental organisations were among the first, and the most emphatic, opponents of female circumcision, an operation which involves the partial or total removal of a girl's clitoris and labia minora. Little, however, is known about how effective NGO efforts have actually been in bringing about change in attitudes and practices. A study commissioned by the FGM Task Force examined the experiences of seven NGOs that have incorporated an anti-FGM message into their work.
One of the NGOs discussed in the report is Caritas-Egypt, which disseminates information on FGM through its two-year health awareness programme for students attending literacy classes. The problem, notes the report, is that only students are exposed to the message, while the other members of their families remain uninformed. This makes it difficult for those who come to believe that FGM is harmful to withstand peer pressure from the immediate and extended family.
Female teachers, according to the report, said they found young girls were more receptive to the message than their mothers. Mothers were more suspicious, and did not always think it fit that such issues should be discussed openly, especially when marital relations were discussed by unmarried teachers. Mothers were also worried that their daughters would remain unmarried if they were not circumcised. Many of the men, the report continued, could not understand why the issue is being raised now, and why such attention is being devoted to it.
'The process of informing people, changing their attitude and the reflection of this change in their practice is a lengthy one. This does not mean that there is no change in attitude, but
it is too early to show any changes since the ICPD' (photo: Randa Shaath)
Male teachers, on the other hand, did not agree unanimously on the topic. Most, however, felt that FGM was not a topic that they should be discussing with young boys. Moreover, both male and female teachers agreed that the best way of raising awareness was through regular religious gatherings, media campaigns and the criminalisation of FGM. Home visits were not considered a good idea by all. Several NGO workers pointed out that people are suspicious at the excessive attention devoted to the practice. One worker claimed: "Sometimes home visits can have an opposite effect in Upper Egypt, because people think that if you take the trouble to go to their homes, this means you want something from them."
Moreover, even if teachers and other development workers do not always feel it is appropriate to speak about FGM through home visits, the report asserts that, as members of the community, they should act as role models by stopping the practice in their own families. At the Christian Evangelical Organisation for Social Services (CEOSS), another NGO which has added an FGM message to its community development activities, one community leader who had her daughter secretly circumcised by her grandmother was forced to quit the organisation, since it was felt that "she should practice what she preaches". CEOSS workers reported a success rate in FGM eradication of about 70 per cent in eight villages.
Community leaders consider it a success story when a girl reaches the age of 13 and has not been circumcised, because it is at that age that parents consider a girl mature and ready to get married. According to the report, one of the factors that has facilitated CEOSS's work is that, in the predominantly Christian communities where it operates, the religious position on female circumcision is clear cut. It adds that, while "CEOSS has begun to work in villages with Muslim majorities, it has not yet been able to duplicate the success stories of the Christian villages of Al-Tayeba and Deir Al-Bersha."
Community leaders, at any rate, stressed the importance of using both church and mosque as channels for the dissemination of information on FGM. The report recommends that religion should be the main entry point for local populations, explaining that "it is also the religious setting and the authority of the religious figure that adds seriousness and credibility to the message." The report also suggests that FGM be addressed as part of the larger concern for women's health, the human rights of the girl child, and respect for the integrity of her body.
The Egyptian Society for the Prevention of Harmful Traditional Practices Against Woman and Child (ESPHTP) is principally involved in training health workers, rural/urban leaders and nurses to inform the public on the damage caused by FGM. Even after intensive training, however, the report found that misconceptions on FGM still prevailed among nurses. Many, for example, believe that all circumcised women are frigid, which might cause a husband to become distanced from family life or begin taking drugs. Another common belief is that FGM can increase the likelihood of divorce on a nation-wide scale. The report also points out that the target groups selected for training need to be reconsidered. The ESPHTP has focused most of its efforts on nurses, in the belief that nurses come into frequent contact with mothers and have some degree of medical expertise. "Yet the nurses disclosed that they play a limited role in passing on the message because neither the hospital setting nor the frequency of contact with mothers allows for this," states the report.
No doubt no matter how consistent and intensive NGO efforts are in addressing FGM, any change in attitude, let alone practice, takes time. The "success stories" reported by CEOSS were the result of many years of exposure to the message that FGM is bad. In one village, it took seven years for the awareness campaign to have any discernible effect.
Edited by Pascale Ghazaleh
