26 March 2009
NGO Founder Says Education Is Key to End Female Genital Cutting
CO.NX webchat transcript, March 26
Molly Melching, executive director and founder of Tostan, a nongovernmental organization, answered questions in a March 26 CO.NX webchat on community-led abandonment of female genital cutting.
Following is the transcript:
(begin transcript)
U.S. Department of State
Bureau of International Information Programs
Webchat Transcript
Community-Led Abandonment of Female Genital Cutting
Guest: Molly Melching, Founder of Tostan
Date: Thursday, March 26, 2009
Time: 9:00 a.m. EDT (1300 GMT)
Webchat Moderator (Kristin): Welcome! We are glad you are with us today. We'll start our open forum in just a moment.
Please continue to submit your questions for Molly Melching here.
Molly Melching: Hello to everyone. This is Molly Melching from Dakar, Senegal. I am the Executive Director of Tostan and have been living in Senegal for 35 years. Today's topic is on Community-Led Abandonment of Female Genital Cutting (FGC), and I am very happy to take any questions you might have.
Question [Rosa]: What happens to girls once they have had FGC but they leave their villages?
Molly Melching: When girls leave their villages, they either go to areas where everyone else has practiced FGC or to areas where people have not practiced FGC. Most groups that practice FGC intramarry with those who have also practiced this tradition. If girls go abroad, they sometimes have problems because people do not understand how this could happen. This is why support groups are being set up in Europe and the USA to help these women cope with being in this situation where even doctors are unaware of this practice.
Webchat Moderator (Sarah): To read an article about immigrants who were victims of FGC, see: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/02/AR2008110202219.html?sub=AR.
Q [Rosa]: Why do other women in their villages help with this horrible thing?
Molly Melching: For those who practice Female Genital Cutting, it is not a horrible thing, but rather something to be proud of. FGC is a social convention necessary for good marriage and respectability within a given ethnic group.
Therefore, it is expected of all girls to undergo this practice if they are to be respected and marriageable. Tostan helps people to come together to learn about the health dangers of the practice and the human rights violations involved. Through discussion and reaching out to the members of the intramarrying group, people then choose to change their social norms to improve health and the well-being of the community. And, thus, collectively abandon the practice.
Webchat Moderator (Sarah): You can read more about Tostan being recognized by UNESCO in 2007 here: http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=23251&Cr=UNESCO&Cr1.
Q [TG23]: What does the UN have to say about this? Is aid tied to this, or tied to stopping this?
Molly Melching: The U.N. family came out with a document in 2008 raising awareness about Female Genital Cutting and its harmful impact on women and girls.
Included in this document is an explanation of a successful approach for ending FGC. This includes empowering education at the grassroots level, public dialogue, and a public pledge of the intramarrying community, which is the process that Tostan has been promoting for the past 11 years with success.
We totally agree with the U.N.'s statements that a social convention such as FGC can only be changed through an understanding of social norms and cannot be changed uniquely through imposition of laws, even though such laws are important within the process.
Webchat Moderator (Sarah): Tostan has also won the prestigious Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian Award. To read more, see http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSL1225605320070812.
Q [Telex]: If the cutting is a ritual and rite of passage how do you replace it? Can you offer another practice to replace it?
Molly Melching: Research has shown that the majority of groups no longer practice rights of passage with the actual FGC operation. There are still areas where this is prevalent, and in those areas, this could perhaps be an option.
Tostan has found, however, that human rights education has led the community to establish new social norms that will lead to achieving their goals for the future: health, well-being of all members of the community, education, work, and peace. In this process, they realize that this practice does not help them to achieve their goals.
This has led them to abandoning other harmful practices also, such as domestic violence, child/forced marriage, and discrimination based on gender, wealth, or social status that once were accepted and prevalent among many communities.
Q [Jack Gamil]: How can we stop Female Genital Cutting?
Molly Melching: When asking people why they practice FGC, they often respond - it's our tradition, it's our culture. People do many things because they have learned it from their parents and their society, often without questioning why they do it. They simply know that if they don't do something that everyone expects them to do, they could be marginalized or even excluded from their social group. Going against the expectations means risking intense disapproval and is difficult if not impossible for one person alone to do. A village mother, for example, would never dream of doing something that could harm her daughter's reputation or chance for marriage.
Thus, it is important to allow people who practice FGC to discuss the pros and cons of continuing or abandoning together without judgment, shame or blame involved. If people come to consensus as a group that FGC does not help achieve their goals of health, well-being, and harmony, they then need to reach out to the entire extended family to get them on board with the decision. This is why Tostan often holds inter-village meetings that allow people to debate and decide. This often leads to public declaration where the extended family comes together and makes the decision as a unified group. The public declaration marks the moment that the social norm has changed. No one is expected to practice FGC after the declaration, so no one individual is hurt by the decision. To date 3,548 communities have abandoned in Senegal and we believe it is possible for total abandonment here by 2012.
Comment [Gannon Gillespie]: This is Gannon Gillespie from Tostan DC, helping out a bit since there are some technical difficulties. One thing we have found to be absolutely critical is to work with every member of the community rather than just looking for the one group that can end the practice. To say it a bit academically, everyone is necessary but no one, alone, is sufficient. Religious leaders, traditional leaders, cutters and ex-cutters, grandmothers, fathers, the girls themselves--everyone must be on the same page so that the entire network can make this decision together. Interestingly this is the same way that foot binding--another harmful, dangerous, patriarchal practice--was ended in China in only one generation.
Webchat Moderator (Sarah): To see a PowerPoint presentation about FGC, you can visit http://www.ebmcdn.net/prb/html/prb-fgmc-012909/index.html.
Q [TG23]: This appears to me a case of gender equality. If your presentation is correct and this is not a part of the religious philosophy of any religion then to my mind we are talking mainly about FGM as a tool of men to power over women. Do you agree?
Molly Melching: We know that FGC started over 2,200 years ago in a society that was highly stratified and where men indeed wanted to exercise full control over women. We believe that it was a fidelity issue in the beginning, but throughout the years we think that FGC became a social norm within certain ethnic groups that make it unacceptable not to practice it.
In fact, we have found men have been some of the strongest leaders in the movement to abandon FGC. Many did not understand the dangers involved, and, once informed, have actively sought to hold discussions with other men and communities.
I even yesterday heard about an Imam at a mosque telling people it was not a matter of religion, and that men must come together to help communities abandon this practice in order to protect the lives of girls and women in Africa.
Comment [Gannon Gillespie]: Gannon again from Tostan DC. To answer the question about FGM as a tool of power over women, I think it is important to see two different levels. First, there is the obvious fact that FGM probably originated as a tool of fidelity control when the practice started. But on a day-to-day level, we have also found it critical to realize that FGC is a social norm--and most men and most community members are not approaching it as a choice or something they think about as an option. It is done because it is supposed to be done. Because we do not see them as opponents, men have become some of the strongest supporters of abandonment.
Webchat Moderator (Sarah): Today, a Washington Post blogger commended Tostan's approach to ending FGC. To read more, see: http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/georgetown/2009/03/unkind_cuts.html.
Q [Telex]: Do you feel any threat to your Tostan workers when you come to the villages?
Molly Melching: In the beginning, we certainly did feel threatened because of strong opposition to any discussion of the topic, let alone indication of abandonment on the part of the community.
As communities began publicly declaring their abandonment of Female Genital Cutting and the news spread on radio, television, in newspapers, and by word of mouth, it became more acceptable to openly discuss this issue and amazingly, in Senegal, it has become almost normal to hear about a new declaration for the abandonment of FGC. It is almost becoming a new social norm that, "of course, we do not practice FGC: that we are promoting the health and well-being of girls and women and have nothing to do with promoting a practice that we now know can harm the girls who are the future of our country."
It's been great to get your questions. We believe it is very important to get information on this successful approach out to as many people as possible because we now know that it is possible to prevent at least 3,000,000 girls a year being cut and suffering the consequences of this operation. We are hoping that everyone will join this movement for human rights and better health for all of these girls and women who are leading this historic grassroots movement.
Webchat Moderator (Marie): The webchat is now closed. We wish to thank Molly Melching for joining us today. A transcript of today's webchat will be posted to http://co-nx.state.gov and to http://www.america.gov/multimedia/askamerica.html within two business days. Speakers are chosen for their expertise and may not reflect the views of the U.S. Department of State.
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