I would like to thank you for your very insightful topic on “The Unkindest Cut of All” in last Wednesday’s 16 May 2007 Living Magazine. Your article provided a graphical illustration of the traumatic effects of the harmful and archaic practice of female genital mutilation. This practice has subjected women in many parts of Africa to undue and unnecessary pain and suffering. It has denied them the opportunity to fully appreciate themselves and enjoy their humanity. The communities that practice this outdated vice have relegated their women to 2nd class citizens. The best postulation that your article brought to the fore is that those who practice the vice do it from a point of ignorance. Information on the physical and physiological effects of FGM is not readily available in many parts of Africa . The practice is hinged on mysterious and outdated cultural beliefs that have been entrenched for many centuries. Your article clearly demonstrated that many men who support this vice have never had the chance to really appreciate the physical harm that is inflicted on the women who undergo it. No sane man would support female genital mutilation after witnessing the graphical illustration of the trauma inflicted on the victims. I do not however quite agree with you that the Children’s Act, Act No 8 of 2001 will help to reduce the prevalence of this practice in Kenya. The Act became law on 31st December 2001 and expressly outlawed female genital mutilation. This has not however stemmed the practice in many parts of the country. The criminalisation of a long-standing cultural rite has forced many circumcisers to go underground with the result that the practice is now carried out in secret.
The best approach to combat this vice as you ably demonstrated is through massive public education of both men and women in the communities that practice it. These communities consider the practice as an accepted rite of passage and a standard moral norm for all their female members. Experience and research has shown that a law that is bereft of any moral content lacks the force of legitimacy to elicit voluntary compliance. Public education will help these communities to understand and appreciate the health and psychological implications of the harmful practice. Only then will they voluntarily comply with the provisions of the Children’s Act. Your article should be a wake up call to all civil societies and gender activists that point education rather than grand conferencing is the best method to reducing if not entirely eliminating the incidences of this harmful practice from our society.
Twitter: @DeCaptainCFE
