The NGO PATH (Program for Appropriate Technology in Health) and Maendeleo Ya Wanawake, Kenya’s largest women’s organization, have collaborated to offer alternatives to Female Genital Mutilation. They combine community education for young girls and parents with alternative rites of passage. These preserve many traditional aspects of the coming-of-age ritual, while prohibiting physical harm to girls.

Cultural Tradition Meets Human Rights Advocacy

In recent years the practice of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) has been a focus of international discussion and condemnation by medical and human rights organizations worldwide. This practice has been endemic in Africa and surviving in many transplanted immigrant communities. If nations where FGM is practiced hope to make gains in women’s rights, it is essential that they learn alternatives. However, eradicating FGM is proving to be a more tenacious challenge than external pressure can achieve. This tactic is a response to objections often raised by communities claiming that the West does not understand the cultural significance of a practice, rooted in centuries of tradition, which marks a girl’s transition into adulthood.
The program began in August 1996 with an aggressive, yet sensitive approach to community education in the Masai community. Kenyan women, many of whom had experienced the procedure themselves as children, spoke to schoolgirls. They informed them of FGM’s physical effects. At the same time, educators approached parents of young girls with a different angle. They discussed the effect of FGM on their daughters’ economic future. Typically, a girl drops out of school following FGM and is married, with little personal earning power.

Preserving Tradition While Protecting Girls’ Rights

The alternative, a non-FGM centered coming of age ritual, preserves many of the traditional features of the old version. These include seclusion, family life education, celebration and gift giving. Thus, families can choose to honor cultural traditions without sacrificing rights to health and economic opportunity. The program has grown considerably from an initial class of 28 girls participating in the week-long ceremony. By 1998, more than 1,100 girls had ‘graduated’ in a dozen ceremonies in several communities. The program achieved success in that none of the girls who ‘graduated’ have given into societal pressure to be circumcised.
This educational tactic has potential for impact far beyond the African continent. FGM has also become an important issue in Australia, the UK, Canada, France and the United States due to the continuation of the practice by immigrants from countries where FGM is common. These nations can learn how to deal with the issue of FGM in a way that is sensitive to the immigrants’ native culture, but which protects the interests of young women.