Toyin Saraki lament on female genita cutting

I have seen with my eyes the harm caused by this archaic practice. Women who have undergone the procedure commonly experience complications during birth, and are at a greater risk of ceasarian section, hemorrhage, obstetric lacerations and prolonged labour”.

With these words, the wife of the Senate President, Mrs Toyin Saraki, challenged sexist attitudes and a misunderstanding of the facts surrounding the health risks associated with female genital cutting. Toyin, who is also the President of Well-Being Foundation (WBF), a non-governmental organisation, spoke on the occasion of the celebration of the UN’s International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) last week. ‘’We reflect upon female genital mutilation (FGM), defining this cultural practice, addressing its harmful implications, and seeking resolution on this dangerous, damaging and sadly all too prevalent issue,’’ she said. Extracts from her statements:. FGM, also known as female genital cutting and female circumcision, is the ritual removal of some or all of the external female genitalia. The practice is common across much of Africa and the Middle East, and is practiced in some parts of Asia, and among diaspora populations in Western countries. Somalia is thought to have the highest prevalence of FGM in the world, with 98% of girls affected. In my homeland of Nigeria, it is believed around 20 million girls and women have undergone the procedure. Globally this figure rises to 200 million. Toyin Saraki FGM, as a cultural practice, is often perceived as a rite of passage into the maturity of womanhood, but evidently conceived to contain and control a young woman, or even a girl’s sexuality, to ensure virginity before marriage and fidelity after, by the brutal method of limiting a woman’s sexual pleasure. This is a blatant violation of a female’s rights, and the embodiment of female subordination, as FGM quite unusually, is visited upon the female gender, by the female gender, towards a misguided but sadly reinforced sense of community affirmation.