This May Be First Nation to Do a 180 on Female Genital Mutilation

Activists who've been campaigning for years to outlaw female genital mutilation around the world could face a major setback as Gambia risks becoming the first country to reverse a ban on the practice linked to infertility and death. The West African country banned female genital mutilation (FGM) or cutting in 2015. But there's been pushback, "particularly since President Adama Barrow came to power in 2017," per Reuters. This month, lawmaker Almameh Gibba proposed a repeal bill, arguing the ban is a "direct violation of the citizens' rights to practice their culture and religion." And following a debate in the Gambia National Assembly, lawmakers voted 42-4 Monday to send the bill to a parliamentary committee for review.

That suggests the bill, with or without amendments, will appear before the National Assembly for a vote later this year. Given Monday's vote, analysts expect the repeal bill will become law, "removing legal protections for millions of girls [and] raising fears that other countries could follow suit," per the New York Times. UN Gambia says the practice robs women and girls of their autonomy and "causes irreversible harm." "It will simply ... be disastrous for women's rights, not only in Gambia, but in the region," Michele Eken, a senior researcher at Amnesty International, tells Reuters. "It could lead to the rollback of other rights such as the law on child marriage," adds Divya Srinivasan, a rep for women's rights nonprofit Equality Now, per AFP.

UN figures show rates of FGM in Gambia have dropped sharply since the ban was enacted, despite the first convictions only being handed down in August. Three women were found guilty of carrying out FGM on eight infant girls in a decision that raised new opposition in the Muslim-majority country. In response, Gambia's Supreme Islamic Council claimed "female circumcision was one of the virtues of Islam," per Reuters. Some 230 million women and girls worldwide have undergone the removal of external genitalia, including 76% of Gambian women ages 15 to 49, according to the United Nations Children's Fund. It's "a centuries-old ritual tied up in ideas of sexual purity, obedience, and control," per the Times. In addition to the health concerns, it also impairs sexual pleasure, per AFP. (More female genital mutilation stories.)