Female Genital Mutilation and Gender

Female Genital Mutilation and Gender Discrimination

Female circumcision or genital mutilation has been part of an African traditional rite among females: circumcision is done by removing the clitoris in the female reproductive organ, often requiring that tissues within be sewed together, leaving only a small opening for urinating and menstruating. Among Asian, African, and Middle Eastern countries, different forms of female circumcision are used, although each technique utilizes the same surgical procedure described earlier.

It is evident that despite its wide acceptance in Asian and African regions, female genital mutilation or FGM is also a controversial practice that has been the concern not only among health practitioners, but also among organizations and individuals who consider FGM as degrading and discriminating to the women sector. Indeed, FGM is more than just an issue of women's health: it entails deeper, cultural implications, wherein its perpetuation reflects the tolerance of societies to subject women to physical mutilation despite their unwillingness to undergo the said 'ritual.'

An article by Marton (2004) for Newsweek Magazine reflects this apparent "gender gap," which includes an analysis of FGM as one form of abuse against women, resulting to their further discrimination in Asian, African and Middle Eastern countries. In the article, Marton states that "...2 million girls and young women are subjected to genital mutilation, a barbaric practice that can cause infertility and long-term ill." The article goes on to equate the gravity of harm of FGM among women to that of rape, battering and sexual coercion.

The article serves as an eye-opener for the readers, for, through it, they are informed of the reality that FGM is far from being 'extinct' or taboo in societies of the world. Instead, it continues to proliferate as a ritual among women and as one study shows, its prevalence resulted to 100 million women being circumcised among societies in Africa and Asia. With its prevalence, gender discrimination occurs as a result, where women are coerced to participate in the said ritual and try to bear the pain of the procedure.