Dramatic rise in women and girls being cut, new FGM data reveals

[Eugene]

Source: The Guardian

Dramatic rise in women and girls being cut, new FGM data reveals

Progress to prevent female genital mutilation needs to be ‘27 times faster’, says UN

Caroline Kimeu in Nairobi
Fri 8 Mar 2024 05.00 GMT
Last modified on Fri 8 Mar 2024 08.56 GMT

The number of girls and women who have undergone female genital mutilation (FGM) has increased by 15% in the past eight years according to new data.

Figures released by the UN children’s agency, Unicef, show that more than 230 million girls and women alive today have undergone FGM, compared with 200 million in 2016. The trend is towards girls being cut at a younger age, said Unicef executive director Catherine Russell.

“Female genital mutilation harms girls’ bodies, dims their futures, and endangers their lives,” she said. “We’re also seeing a worrying trend that more girls are subjected to the practice at younger ages, many before their fifth birthday. That further reduces the window to intervene. We need to strengthen the efforts of ending this harmful practice.”

Work to eliminate the practice by the UN’s target date of 2030 would need to be happening 27 times faster than it is now, Unicef said. FGM is not becoming more common globally, but more girls are being born in FGM-practising countries in comparison with the rest of the world.

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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2024/mar/08/dramatic-rise-in-women-and-girls-being-cut-new-fgm-data-reveals

[Timeflyer]

1. Truly horrifying.

Disfiguring young girls for life, like foot binding. Hard to understand how mothers go along with it.

[niyad]

2. Because they are brought up in misogynistic, male-controlled cultures

that demand this, that tells them this is necessary, sacred even. Just like women in this country who are brought up in misogynistic belief systems, and believe they are subordinate, lesser, must be controlled by males. Differences of degree only, not kind.

[niyad]

3. With all the efforts globally to stop these insane practices, it is horrifying

to realize that it is, instead, on the rise.

The desperate need to control women is escalating in so many areas.