Ending FGM in Uganda Is Possible, With Involvement Of Men And Boys

By Judith Alowo

Female genital mutilation (FGM) among the Sebei community was declared to be a required cultural practice in a resolution passed in 1988 by elder Peter Kameron, the district council’s then-chairman for the Kapchorwa district. Define FGM briefly for those who may not be familiar.

According to elder Kameron, in the past, Sabiny chiefs were ardent supporters of FGM. At that time, the communities were concerned about strong outside influences (anti-FGM campaigns) on the Sabiny culture, which needed to be safeguarded.

Today elder Kameron is championing the Right Here, Right Now II (RHRN-II) -backed anti-FGM initiatives in the Sebei region, concentrating on promoting positive cultural values that don’t abuse young people sexual reproductive health and rights (SRHR), after understanding the risks of the FGM procedure. Kameron and other elders created the Sabiny Elders Association (SEA) in response to this.

The elders now know and are counselling communities that FGM is a harmful custom and make the conscious decisions to study their negative customs in an effort to advocate for their abolition. With assistance from RHRN – II program, they hold annual Sabiny traditional Days to promote healthy traditions and debunk misconceptions about FGM and other harmful SRHR practices. They made the decision to uphold positive traditional values, norms and beliefs among the Sabinys, such as singing, dancing, and feasting.

With the Right Here, Right Now -II program (RHRN – II) Kameron is a transformed man; in the past, he even exhibited two of his children while promising never to subject them to FGM and to instead keep them in school. Elder Kameron is currently one of the proud elders leading the fight against FGM/C in the Sebei region of Kapchorwa, Kween, and Bukwo. As a result of his campaigning, many Sabiny girls have received protection from FGM in exchange for receiving an education.

Partnering with Men and Boys to Transform Social and Gender Norms to End Female Genital Mutilation was the theme for the 2023 celebration of the zero-tolerance day for female genital mutilation on February 6. The story of Elder Kameron is an excellent example of how men and boys can be instrumental in the end of female genital mutilation.

FGM is a degrading cultural practice, but it is also a violation of human rights, going against the ideas of equality and respect for human decency. It prevents women and girls from exercising their rights, including those related to sexual and reproductive health, and it puts them at risk of severe physical, mental, emotional, and social repercussions.

As an illustration, consider the case of Jane Chemutai, who was forced to undergo FGM in neighboring Kenya at the age of 10 along with 11 other Ugandan girls from the Kween and Amudat regions. She remembers how she experienced two tragedies: first, she endured enormous blood and suffering; and second, her parents forced her into a forced marriage in exchange for animals. Since then, Chemtai has experienced severe difficulties when pregnancy.

FGM is widely accepted as a cultural requirement and a strong social norm in many FGM-affected communities. FGM, on the other hand, is rooted in gender inequality and power imbalances between men and women, according to Harriet Aseko, the Kapchorwa district Community Development Officer (CDO), and it sustains them by limiting opportunities for girls and women to realize their rights and full potential in terms of health, education, income, and equality.

The number of girls at risk is anticipated to rise as the population expands, making it even more urgent for national and international efforts to end the practice by 2030 as outlined in the Sustainable Development Goals.

Engaging men and boys

According to Aisha Namugenyi, a youth country coordinator (YCC) for the RHRN-II program, men hold positions of authority in the communities where FGM is practiced, including those of fathers, teachers, brothers, and sons. As a result, women and girls are typically denied the right to bodily autonomy to make their own decisions regarding their sexual and reproductive health. The good news is that the very institutions that support these prejudices and discriminatory norms—many of which are dominated by men are also essential to their destruction.

With only eight years left in the Decade of Action, she thinks there is still time to end this damaging practice through enduring relationships with men and boys.

Evidence shows that where tried, men and boys are challenging power dynamics in their families and communities and supporting women and girls as agents of change through community dialogues, peer education, intergenerational dialogues, mobile outreach, and faith-based organizations advocacy as proved by elder Kameron in Sebei.

For instance, as part of the RHRN-II on FGM, coalition members have worked with boys and men to promote gender equality and end FGM through the Young Male Action Groups (YMAGs), Empowerment and Livelihoods for Adolescents (ELA) clubs, and by enlisting the help of religious and cultural leaders in the communities where the practice is still practiced. Through these initiatives, men and boys are being urged to reject damaging preconceptions, embrace respectful, healthy relationships, promote universal human rights, and show that men and boys are essential to achieving gender equality.

In the words of Bishop Kipto Masaba of the Sebei Diocese, it is now universally acknowledged that strengthening women’s status and rights improves entire societies. The health of families and the economic prosperity of entire communities are improved by, among other crucial measures, ensuring access to sexual and reproductive health services and protection from gender-based violence.

Sad to say, but women who have had circumcisions continue to do the procedure out of fear that their daughters won’t be able to find husbands for socially acceptable reasons. However, we have discovered via conversations with men and boys that they favor women who are not circumcised. The communities should hear this message loud and clear from advocacy campaigns in order to stop using this damaging behavior.

“As part of their attempts to change masculinities and uphold accountability to women and girls, men and boys should be assisted in realizing their privilege and power to advance the interests of women and girls through advocacy and programming. We need to fund such programs because we are aware that this is both feasible and now taking place,” Aldon Walukamba a Communications Consultant with the RHRN -II program in Uganda says.

Let’s incorporate gender-responsive programming and social norms change strategies into all of our initiatives to permanently eradicate these detrimental behaviors.

National-level policies and legislation protecting the sexual reproductive and health (SRH) rights of girls and women, including the Prohibition of FGM Act (2010), should be fully implemented to ensure women and girls are protected and perpetrators of FGM are prosecuted. We can no longer justify FGM as a cultural or traditional practice—it is a crime and a violation of human rights and must be treated as such!

We should also accelerate evidence-based practices learned during the implementation of the RHRN II program to date, now that we know what works and which strategies to scale up. Let us invest in generating data and evidence to inform programming and policy reforms and intensify our advocacy efforts with the government to integrate alternative living arrangements for reformed cutters.

Strengthening partnerships is critical, especially with the government and donors, to increase investment in ending all harmful practices, including FGM, in Uganda.

Finally, we can hasten the eradication of FGM by empowering girls and women to achieve their rights and potential by ensuring that they have access to healthcare, education, skill-building opportunities, and employment, and by making sure that no girl or woman is left behind.