Today marks International Women’s Day. A day to celebrate the lives of women: to remember the struggles of the past, to celebrate achievements and recommit to breaking down barriers, challenging discrimination and standing up to abuse. This year’s theme, Make It Happen, encourages women to speak out on issues of gender inequality, discrimination and gender-based violence. It is a day to reflect, a day to consolidate, a day to resolve and a day to act.
For International Women’s Day in Glasgow, the Lord Provost Sadie Docherty, with support from Unicef, is hosting an Ending Violence Against Women event. First minister Nicola Sturgeon is expected to attend and workshops will be led by community organisations such as Saheliya. It is sure to be a productive and memorable day.
Up for discussion will be female genital mutilation (FGM). Defined by WHO as a procedure that involves partial or total removal of the external female genitalia, or other injury to the female genital organs, FGM serves no medical purpose, has no health benefits and is an utter violation of human rights. Ultimately it is child abuse, and here in Scotland it is illegal. But many young girls are in danger of being “cut” — either here at home or when taken to visit relatives abroad.
The UK government estimates that over 200,000 girls in this country under the age of 15 are at risk of FGM, and that nearly 70,000 women are survivors of FGM. These survivors live every day with the physical, emotional and psychological consequences of the abuse. Those at risk face that horror if those who carry this out are not stopped.
FGM is unimaginable for anyone who has not experienced it, and it can be unbearable for those that have. Unicef estimates that 125m women and girls globally have undergone FGM. In Egypt, which had a breakthrough last year when a man was charged with causing the death of a 13-year-old girl through FGM, it is deemed that 27.2m women and girls have been “cut”.
Advertisement
Such numbers are staggering, made worse by the knowledge these may be only scratching the surface. FGM is an embedded cultural practice encouraged not only from generation to generation and man to woman but from women to girls. It is a product of patriarchy, a “rite of passage” and prerequisite for marriage that is rooted in shame and fear. It is brutal, it is unnecessary and it must stop.
In the face of such statistics and entrenched practices, the task to eliminate FGM can seem daunting. But we must not lose hope. Recent years have seen some remarkable campaigns from both activist organisations and governments. Organisations such as Daughters of Eve, Forward and 28 Too Many have been calling for better prosecution mechanisms, and for child protection and education services to tackle FGM. Media campaigns have meant the issue has finally received the attention it deserved.
The Girl Summit held in London in July 2014, attended by organisations, parliamentarians and activists from across the world, was a memorable and important event in the campaign to focus on FGM and child, early and forced marriage. Declarations and statements were made by faith and community leaders, the police and governments.
More than 350 faith leaders have signed a declaration against FGM. In England and Wales, the government is funding community projects to prevent FGM and police forces are working closely with communities and prosecution authorities to prevent and convict. The reach of support for those suffering from or at risk of FGM has stretched. But it must stretch further. Campaigns need to push harder and governments must deliver change faster.
During my time as first minister, in 2005, we brought in legislation that strengthened Scots law in relation to FGM. I congratulate and support all those working in communities in Scotland who are striving to eradicate FGM, but we still don’t have one single prosecution. The legislation is there, the activists are doing their best, but the development of programmes like those set up by the UK government has not been taken forward in Scotland with the same energy or commitment — either from the Scottish government or our local authorities.
Advertisement
So International Women’s Day 2015 is an opportunity: an opportunity for the Scottish government and local Scottish councils to make their declarations, for the police and education authorities to state how they are going to tackle the issue of FGM, and for faith leaders to consider their declarations, because change has been too little, too slow. We must try harder. I hope they take this opportunity and allow every girl living in Scotland the chance to grow up without the pain and suffering caused by FGM. If this was any other form of child abuse we would not hesitate to act — it is time to step up and end FGM now.
Jack McConnell is a member of the House of Lords and a former first minister of Scotland