A victory for opponents of female genital mutilation in The Gambia
JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
For the past year, there has been a debate raging in The Gambia - should the country overturn its ban on female genital mutilation? As NPR's Gabrielle Emanuel reports, this week, there was a decision as lawmakers in this West African nation cast their vote. But please note - there is a graphic description in this story.
GABRIELLE EMANUEL, BYLINE: On Monday, a crowd gathered outside The Gambian National Assembly.
ABSA SAMBA: For a moment, there was total silence.
EMANUEL: Absa Samba was there as the vote was announced. The lawmakers had rejected an effort to reverse the 2015 ban. Female genital mutilation would remain illegal.
(CHEERING)
EMANUEL: Samba recorded the moment. Women pumped their fists in the air.
SAMBA: There was a huge sense of relief that - ah - like, it felt really good.
EMANUEL: For Samba, who advocates against the practice, the moment was personal. At age 2, she was subjected to female genital mutilation.
SAMBA: I do not have any memories of what happened to me that day, but I do remember it not being talked about.
EMANUEL: Samba says cutting the clitoris or sewing shut the vaginal opening is seen by some Gambians as making you clean, beautiful, desirable, and it's key to a girl's marriage prospects. But Samba has come to view it very differently. She sees it as others trying to have...
SAMBA: Control over our bodies and our well-being.
EMANUEL: The World Health Organization has condemned it as a violation of a girl's human rights, and it brings serious health hazards, even death, and often a psychological toll. But it's common in many countries. Seventy-three percent of Gambian women have been subjected to the practice. And this past year, conservative clerics have led a vocal push to reverse the ban. Surrounded by a crowd of men, Imam Abdoulie Fatty spoke to local media outlets after the vote.
ABDOULIE FATTY: (Speaking Mandinka).
EMANUEL: He says the lawmakers who voted to preserve the ban will go to hell, as will those who elected them. His argument is that the procedure is part of being Muslim, although many scholars of Islam disagree. Other countries are considering outlawing female genital mutilation.
JUDY GITAU: The eyes of the world, indeed, were on The Gambia to see what direction the National Assembly was going to take.
EMANUEL: Judy Gitau is with Equity Now, a nonprofit that advocates for ending the practice. But she says a ban alone is not enough.
GITAU: What we would like to see is more enforcement of the law.
EMANUEL: In The Gambia, even with the ban, only a few women who do genital cutting have ever been prosecuted.
Gabrielle Emanuel, NPR News.
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