HOW FGM/C AFFECTS WOMEN AND GIRLS ECONOMIC GROWTH

Women Economic Empowerment (WEE) is defined as the process by which women gain the ability to make decisions not just for themselves, but also for others around them. Others here could include her immediate family, her friends, community members and the society at large. For a woman to be said to be economically empowered, she must have the ability to meet not just her own financial needs, but also the financial needs of others.

Sadly enough, in so many countries women and girls are not economically empowered. This is indeed sad because there are so many benefits to be gained, when women and girls are economically empowered. One of such benefits is that the family is better off. This is because women are naturally known to be more caring than men. When women are economically empowered, they naturally invest in their families than most men do. Also the society is better off no wonder a popular quote says “Empower a woman Empower a generation”.

Though there are so many reasons why women are not economically empowered, but one major reason which has not yet gained prominence is Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C). FGM/C is a practice which affects not just the health of every woman and girl child, but also her economic growth and development. In most climes, FGM/C serves as a precursor to the girl child early marriage. The girl child is mutilated and cut to keep her pure and chaste for any man who intends to marry her. This is majorly because of the misconception and myth that FGM/C generally curbs promiscuity. So an uncut girl is largely not wanted, because she is seen as not pure and chaste in the eyes of many men in the community.

After the girl child is mutilated or cut, then the next thing that the family does is to marry her off at a tender age usually between the ages of 10-16 years. When this happens, the education of such a girl is usually affected. She drops out of school to spend more time with her husband and also to take care of her children. It gets even worse when the husband tells her specifically never to think about going to school anymore. For such a girl that has dreams of maybe becoming a lawyer, doctor an entrepreneur etc she sees all these dreams fade away right before her eyes. This is because nobody would want to employ someone who is not educated.

In conclusion, it’s definitely high time we as end FGM activists and campaigners start looking at this area. This is because the impact that FGM/C has on the economic life of various women and girls is definitely so weighty.