Imagine that you are held down by the same hands of adults who are supposed to protect you from harm; imagine that you are forced to undergo a painful and potentially unsterilized procedure that removes and alters your most intimate body parts. You have no say in this permanent mutilation of your body. You are forced to live with the long-term consequences of this procedure. What would you do? What are you able to do, when you are still a minor and just a girl?

Female Genital Mutilation

Female Genital Mutilations (FGM) are, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), “procedures that intentionally alter or injure female genital organs for non-medical reasons” .  An estimated number of 100 to 140 million girls and women are living with the permanent consequences of FGM; approximately 3 million more girls are at risk for it yearly in Africa alone, where FGM is the most prevalent. It is practiced mostly on young girls sometime between infancy and age 15 years, who usually are not in the position to defy her parents if she wishes-- if she is at all able to express her wishes at the time. It is a form of sexual discrimination against women.

Female Genital Mutilation is also known as Female Circumcision. The difference in terminology reflects the user's view on the topic. Because “mutilation” has a negative connotation compared to “circumcision,” which is a socially acceptable cultural practice even in US, those who use the terminology of “Female Genital Mutilation” are likely to be opposed to the practice and consider it a grave human rights violation. The United Nations, WHO, and other international organizations use the term mutilation rather than circumcision.

Four Types of FGM and Consequences

FGM presents itself in many different forms. WHO categorizes the practice into four types;

1.Type I (Clitoridectomy): partial or total removal of the clitoris (part of female genital that is present entirely for a woman's sexual pleasure) and, rarely, the prepuce (the fold of skin surrounding the clitoris).

2.Type II (Excision): partial or total removal of the clitoris and the labia minora, with or without excision of the labia majora ("the lips" or the folds of skin that surround the vagina).

3.Type III (Infibulation): Narrowing of the vaginal orifice with creation of a covering seal by cutting and appositioning the labia minora and/or the labia majora, with or without excision of the clitoris. (This procedure results in a single, narrow hole for both urine and menses to trickle through.)

4.Type IV (Other): All other harmful procedures to the female genitalia for non-medical purposes, for example: pricking, piercing, incising, scraping and cauterization.

None of the four variations of FGM has medical benefits; instead, it can often cause complications that may be hard to treat at home, which is where many procedures take place. According to WHO, Immediate complications can include severe pain, shock, hemorrhage (bleeding), tetanus or sepsis (bacterial infection), urine retention, open sores in the genital region and injury to nearby genital tissue.

Even if a girl goes through the procedure and survives it, as many do, she still faces permanent mutilation of her body as well as long-term consequences, many of which increase in severity as the damage to genital is greater. The consequences can include:

•recurrent bladder and urinary tract infections;

•genital and sexually transmitted infections;

•bleeding during sex and therefore higher chance of HIV infection;

•chronic pain;

•lack of sensation or pain during sexual intercourse due to physical and psychological trauma;

•substantial birth complications such as postpartum hemorrhage (post-delivery bleeding)

•higher newborn death rates;

•infertility;

•the need for later surgeries. For example, the FGM procedure that seals or narrows a vaginal opening (type 3 above) is surgically changed to allow for sexual intercourse and childbirth, and sometimes stitched close again afterwards (WHO).

Of all four types of FGM, infibulation, or type III FGM, is the most severe. Because it creates a single, small hole for both urine and menses to trickle through, the process of urination and menstruation is difficult, slow, and painful. Additionally, “difficulties in emptying the bladder and stagnation of urine under the hood of scar tissue” (WHO) can result in dribbling of urine outside of the toilet. A woman who has undergone infibulation may also have painful, repeated opening and restitching of her opening at the event of sexual intercourse and labor.

Removal of, or damage to highly sensitive genital tissue, especially the clitoris, may affect sexual sensitivity and lead to sexual problems, such as decreased sexual pleasure and pain during sex. Scar formation, pain and traumatic memories associated with the procedure can also lead to such problems (WHO).

Additionally, in all types of FGM, which is usually practiced on young girls by the same adults who are entrusted to care for them, can be traumatic experience that scars both inside and outside a girl's body. Many girls who have been forcibly mutilated feel that their mothers, who are usually the ones who arrange for the damaging procedure themselves, have committed unforgivable crimes (Longinotto). Forced FGM is a betrayal of trust and a loss of free will for many girls, who live with the painful reminders and consequences of their parents' action.

Motivations Behind FGM

So why do people still practice the risky procedure? The reasons can be divided into cultural/religious and sexual reasons. In many cultures that practice FGM, the female genitalia is viewed as “unclean” and “male” before the procedure while it is viewed as “beautiful” and “clean” afterwards. For example, in the documentary titled The Day I Will Never Forget, a traditionalist man is seen explaining that in order for a woman and a man to meet as “free people,” they have to be “freed” of their counterpart's sexual organs that are present in their bodies.  (The male's “female” body part is, in this case, the foreskin, a retractable loose skin on a penis.)  Because of such beliefs, FGM is the cultural norm and even requirement in the societies it is practiced in. It is considered a rite of passage to maturity and often endorsed by the religious leaders, though it is required neither by the Qu'ran nor the Bible. A girl is considered to be improperly raised and not marriageable if she had not undergone FGM procedures; therefore, it is difficult to lead the stop in FGM practices.

Besides cultural/religious reasons, FGM is “often done with the intent of ensuring the woman's virginity, which is a requisite for marriage” (Baer and Brysk 95). Beneath the superficial surface, however, FGM also represents sexual gender inequality and the patriarchal control over a woman's body. In all first three types of FGM, removal of or damage to genital tissue such as clitoris, which exists only for woman's sexual pleasure, can cause sexual problems. She may feel “decreased sexual pleasure and even pain during sex (WHO). For those with FGM trauma-related sexual problems, sex becomes a burden to endure or a one-sided business instead of a sign of love and trust as it should be.

Additionally, because the third type of FGM renders a girl literally physically incapable of having premarital sex, a girl who has undergone the procedure is without autonomy of her own body. Because of the physical barrier, her sexual freedom is controlled by others her whole life: first her family and, after her marriage, her husband.

Many countries recently have caved in to the international pressure to ban FGM, such as Kenya in 2001 and Egypt in 2007. However, the bans are rarely enforced by the justice system and most women still practice FGM. For example, 97% of Egyptian, 93.7% of Malian, and 89% of Sudanese women and girls are reported to have undergone FGM despite the fact that it is illegal in all three countries (Baer and Brysk 104-105).

Prevalence of female genital mutilation in Africa and Yemen (women aged 15 - 49)

Source: MICS, DHS and other national surveys, 1997-2006. Map developed by UNICEF, 2007

Conclusion

Some may argue that FGM practices are cultural, and that those outside the culture should not force their morals on others. However, FGM is both a health and a human rights issue that should not be ignored under the pretense of minding your own business. It is not only harmful to women and girls, but also a representation of patriarchal dictatorship that restricts a woman to the access of her own body. Why should women be prevented from choosing to have premarital sex while men are not restricted? Why should women be faithful to her one and only husband while men are encouraged and even expected to have multiple wives? Why should a woman denied of the right to sexual autonomy? Regardless of culture, free will and autonomy should be an unalienable right to all human beings.

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Bride Burning/Dowry Murder

Dowry murder, or more commonly, bride burning, is “a murder, culpable on social, cultural, and legal grounds, executed privately, and often disguised as an accident or suicide” (Oldenburg, xi). The motivation behind the murder is a woman's dowry, which is money and/or property a woman brings to her in-laws after marriage. Traditionally, a dowry is a woman’s own wealth that can protect her by acting as an inheritance in the case of the husband’s death. However, it has recently become a burden and a source of threat for the bride and her family. Dowry murder is a prime example of the change in the role of the dowry. In dowry murders, the husband's family member or the husband himself will burn the wife alive to secure her dowry for their own use, to punish the wife’s family for the inadequate dowry, and to keep the husband eligible for yet another bride and the dowry that follows her. Dowry murder is most common in India, where dowry, though technically illegal, is a giant source of income for the groom’s family.

Kerosene pump ovens, which is commonly used in India due to its cheapness, is a common weapon in the murder. Oldenburg of the 2002 book “Dowry Murder” describes the scene of the crime as this: “The crime occurs in the kitchen, where the lower- and middle-class housewife spends a lot of time each day. [A tin of fuel] can be quickly poured over the intended victim, and a lighted match will do the rest. It is easy to pass of the event as an accident since the stoves are, indeed, prone to explode” (xi).

“An average of one dowry death is reported every 77 minutes [19 dowry death per day] according to the National Crime Record Bureau and victim support groups say complaints of dowry harassment are rising, fueled by a rising climate of consumerism” (Gentleman).

According to the CIA World Factbook, the nominal GDP per capita in India was 1,078 US dollars in 2008. Geetha, the youngest of five daughters of poor substance farmers who was victim of an attempted dowry murder, originally gave 51,000 rupees (1,100 US dollars) to her husband’s family— more than the national average annual income (Dugger).

Motivations Behind Dowry Murder

Now the question is why. In many cases, the allure of multiple dowries, source of great income that can be as much as the husband's annual income, with only the cost of a ceremonial wedding and a life, is enough. Though the act of giving dowry is punishable with a five-year jail term, the law is easily avoided under the pretense of “wedding gifts”.  Moreover, luxury items, such as color TV and scooters, can be obtained by multiple dowries. In the minds of the dowry murderers, a woman's life has become the currency for financial and property gain.

But the husband or the husband's family will not commit such crimes if they are likely to get caught and punished. The simple truth of the matter is that dowry murders are very difficult to prove. Kerosene pump ovens, a common kitchen appliance, are prone to explode. In many cases, the husband's family will disguise the murder as an unfortunate accident or a suicide. Even when there are legitimate reasons for suspicion of foul play, corpses with 90% or more third-degree burns do not show signs of struggle (Oldenburg, xi). Therefore, the widower can walk free to get yet another wife and yet another dowry; and he can repeat this process multiple times without ever getting formally charged.

Another, not so direct or obvious reason for dowry murder is the general acceptance of intimate partner violence in India. Indian Health Ministry’s survey of 10,000 Indian women revealed an appalling statistic: more than the half of women surveyed said that violence was a normal part of married life (Dugger). Common “accepted” reason for violence includes inadequately carrying out household chores. Accepting domestic violence as a norm, which can be an indicator for a husband's capability in carrying out dowry murder, can result in fetal ending for the woman. However, as the study shows, many women simply endure the violence at home.

Additionally, Indian women are generally dependent on her in-law families. Though dowry was originally meant to give a woman some sort of financial independence via means of profitable trinkets, an in-law family may take it away from the women. Since the dowry was given technically as a “wedding gift” to the groom’s family, the woman cannot accuse her in-laws of theft. And since most women in India are still expected to be housewives, she cannot make money for herself. Therefore, she is financially dependent on her husband for her survival.

For most of the abused and financially dependent women, divorce is not a viable option; divorce is a “cultural, religious, and social stigma”, where only 1.1% of marriages end up in divorce (Divorcerate). In fact, divorce was “not even a remote possibility or even thought of until recent times,” and “[c]ommunity disapproval is stronger for divorced women than it is for divorced men” (Marriage and Family Encyclopedia). Therefore, rather than to endure social ostracism, wives who are abused for inadequate dowries keep silent until it is too late.

Dowry murder is a horrible result of greed and gender inequality. When the often-ridiculous demands of extravagant dowries are not met, the brides are abused and psychologically tortured by the in-laws. Or, even worse, burned alive as a punishment for the bride’s family. Despite the ubiquitousness of dowry murders, many go by unpunished and unnoticed, and the survivors of dowry murder attempts themselves remain voiceless for fear of their family and for themselves from the in-law’s retaliation. Additionally, poor women whose families have gone into debt to afford the dowries are pressured to keep silent of the dowry murder attempts for the sake of their loved ones. Social stigma of divorce is a nail in the coffin for women in abusive marriage, who are left without options to ensure their well-being and their right to life.

Violence against wives is not a problem present solely in India.  According to the 2005 Bureau of Justice Statistics, 3 American women were murdered everyday by their intimate partners. In 2005 alone, 1,181 women were murdered. (Bureau of Justice)

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Maternal Mortality

For many of us in the developed country, the process of giving birth is a joyous experience for friends and family. All our family members come together, competing to get the first peek at the baby. In this joyous occasion, death is the last thing in our minds.

In other developing countries, however, the same process that may be so full of hope may be lethal for both the mother and the child. The global statistics of maternal mortality is staggering. And the fact that there still exists such preventable mortality and crippling complications is even more horrible.

•More than 1 woman die from pregnancy or childbirth-related complications every minute

oThat is equivalent to 1,500 deaths every day

oEvery year, 547,500 women die from what could have been preventable complications

•Wealth, which is usually an indicator for health care availability, is a significant factor in maternal mortality.

o99% of maternal deaths occur in developing countries

oMore than half of these occur in Africa and one third in South Asia

oIn developed countries, 9 women die per 100,000 live births

oIn developing countries, 450 women die per 100,000 live births

oIn fourteen countries, at least 1,000 women die per 100,000 births

•Due to lack of available contraception and the general higher pregnancy rates, women in developing countries have greater risk of maternal death.

oIn developed countries, 1 in 75 women die due to pregnancy

♣Ireland has maternal death risk of 1 in 48,000

oIn developing countries, 1 in 7,300 women die due to pregnancy

♣Niger has maternal death risk of 1 in 7

oIn general, a woman in a developing country are 100 times more likely to die from pregnancy and other birth related complications.

♣A Nigerian woman’s maternal death risk is almost 7,000 times greater than an Irish woman

•Most causes of maternal deaths are avoidable. Below are causes of maternal death by their frequency:

1.Severe bleeding: Without skilled medical help, a healthy woman can bleed to death within 2 hours after birth. A drug called oxytocin can prevent hemorrhage effectively.

2.Infections: Sterile birthing environment as well as early treatment can eliminate infections.

3.Eclampsia:  It is a condition that includes muscle ache and pains, seizures, severe agitation, and unconsciousness. It is fetal for pregnant women and presents itself as preeclampsia during pregnancy. Preeclampsia can be detected during pregnancy, and drugs such as magnesium sulfate can lower the risk of developing eclampsia (Medline Plus).

4.Obstructed Labor: When a fetus’s head is too big for the mother’s pelvis or if it is improperly positioned, obstructed labor can cause the death of both the mother and the fetus. Pantograph, a simple tool that graphs the process of labor and the conditions of the mother and the fetus, can identify this problem earlier and decrease the risk of maternal death. Readily available trained practitioners can also perform Caesarean section before it is too late to save both the mother and the fetus.

5.Unsafe Abortion: Due to the unavailability or the legal status of abortion, many women try potentially hazardous methods to abort. Of 46 million abortions performed each year, 20 million are unsafe; 80,000 women die from complications of unsafe abortion each year. In developing countries, abortion is practiced under unsanitary conditions. The abortion process itself can also be fatal to the woman. Examples of unsafe abortion include “prolonged, hard massage of the abdomen; repeated blows to the abdomen; insertion of stones, twigs, or sharp wire objects into the vagina and cervix; drinking or flushing the vagina with caustic substances” (Planned Parenthood).

6.Indirect Causes: Diseases that complicate pregnancy like malaria, anemia, and HIV. Poor health and lack of care are also the cause of deaths.

•The reason for the overwhelming number of deaths from avoidable complications is lack of available health care. For example, less than two thirds of women in developing world do not receive assistance from a skilled health worker during birth.

oRegular health care can prevent complications that may result in death (WHO unless otherwise noted).

Works Cited

Baer, Madeline, and Alison Brysk. "New Rights for Private Wrongs: Female Genital Mutilation and Global Framing Dialogues." Ed. Clifford Bob. The International Struggle for New Human Rights. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvanina P, 2009. 93-107.

"Bureau of Justice Statistics Homicide Trends in the United States: Trends in the proportion of all homicides involving intimates by gender table." Office of Justice Programs. 21 July 2009 <http://www.ojp.gov/bjs/homicide/tables/intproptab.htm>.

The Day I Will Never Forget. Dir. Kim Longinotto. VHS. Women Make Movies, 2002.

"Divorce Rate In India : divorce rates in india." Divorce Rate : Divorce Rate In America. 21 July 2009 <http://divorcerate.org/divorce-rate-in-india.html>.

Dugger, Celia W. "Kerosene, Weapon of Choice For Attacks on Wives in India." New York Times 26 Dec. 2000. 21 July 2009 <http://www.nytimes.com/2000/12/26/world/kerosene-weapon-of-choice-for-attacks-on-wives-in-india.html>.

Eliminating Female genital mutilation: An interagency statement. Publication. 2008. OHCHR, UNAIDS, UNDP, UNECA, UNESCO, UNFPA, UNHCR, UNICEF, UNIFEM, WHO. 21 July 2009 <http://whqlibdoc.who.int/publications/2008/9789241596442_eng.pdf>.

Gentleman, Amelia. "Indian brides pay a high price." New York Times 22 Oct. 2006. New York Times. 21 July 2009 <http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/22/world/asia/22iht-dowry.3246644.html>.

"India - Status Of Single And Divorced Persons In India." Marriage and Family Encyclopedia. 21 July 2009 <http://family.jrank.org/pages/862/India-Status-Single-Divorced-Persons-in-India.html)>.

Oldenburg, Veena Talwar. Dowry Murder The Imperial Origins of a Cultural Crime. New York: Oxford UP, USA, 2002.

"WHO | Female genital mutilation." World Health Organization. May 2008. WHO. 21 July 2009 <http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs241/en/>.