By Musa S. Sheriff

A colorful ceremony was held earlier this month in the National Football Stadium of the small West African nation of the Gambia to celebrate something unique: eighteen Gambian women ‘dropped the knife’ and agreed to give up the traditional practice of female circumcision.
 
Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), also known as female circumcision, is a tradition common in some parts of Africa in which women’s genitals are either completely or partially removed.  The procedure can cause severe pain, shock, bleeding, and infection and can also result in death.  The May 4 ceremony was possible thanks to the work of a local organization that combines culturally sensitive community education with the creation of alternative employment for traditional circumcisers to create an effective, practical, and poverty-reducing model for protecting women’s health.

The Gambia Committee on Traditional Practices Affecting the Health of Women and Children (GAMCOTRAP) has used a rights and empowerment-based approach to combating FGM and other medical practices that hurt women and children. Stressing the value of traditional practices that are healthy for women, it educates communities and professionals through pubic information campaigns and grassroots mobilization. Most effectively, it connects circumcisers, such as the 18 honored this month, with skills training and small-scale enterprise work, enabling them to succeed in fields that don’t hurt women.

According to Dr. Nestor Shivute of the World Health Organization, who spoke at a May 4 GAMCOTRAP event, it is estimated that about 100 to 140 million women and girls, a large number of whom live in Africa, have undergone some form of genital cutting. Because the practice is so deeply rooted in some African cultures as a “rite of passage,” work by organizations such as GAMCOTRAP are vital to providing creative, locally-rooted solutions for all Gambian women.
 
Thank you to Musa S. Sheriff for sharing this update from the field. Have a success story about women’s empowerment? Want to share an experience you had with women in developing countries? We want to hear from you! Write to us at .