Woman fled ‘respected’ FGM cutter role
A woman fled her Gambian community after she was pressured into becoming a ‘respected’ female genital mutilation ‘cutter’ – thanks to intervention from Birmingham support services.
The ‘excellent display of bravery’ has been revealed in the annual report of the Birmingham Community Safety Partnership (BCSP).
The group commissions a drop-in clinic at Heartlands Hospital for women who have experienced female genital mutilation (FGM) – the painful and sometimes fatal procedure of deliberately cutting, injuring or changing girls’ genitals.
A total of 254 women attended the service in 2018/19.
The report provides the case study of ‘Mona’, whose name has been changed to protect her identity.
The mother-of-one, originally from The Gambia, has been living in the UK for four years.
Her grandmother was a ‘designated cutter’, with the title passing on in her community based on family name.
Mona was subjected to FGM as a child but had no knowledge of the practise and only became aware of it after attending the awareness workshop at Heartlands. At that point she became a community champion against the procedure.
But her older sister, still based in Africa, had been pressured into taking over the title of community cutter. However through telephone conversations Mona managed to raise awareness of the dangers and convince her sister not to take the the role.
“Usually there is big celebration for the person that takes the role as the cutter,” the report said.
“It is seen as a respected job. Mona’s sister has had to move to a different part of Gambia to escape the community pressure.
“The case has been an excellent display of bravery and passionate international campaigning against FGM. Mona is very outspoken and says she talks to many women about FGM on a daily basis. She wants to save as many girls as possible from the harmful practice.”
The Birmingham Community Safety Partnership commissions a project through Birmingham and Solihull Women’s Aid to raise awareness around FGM, honour based violence and forced marriage.
Birmingham’s community safety chief Councillor John Cotton said Mona’s story was a "powerful reminder of the importance of the work and why we need to keep a focus on it".
FGM is carried out for a number of misguided cultural, religious and social reasons sometimes in the mistaken belief it benefits girls in some way.
In severe cases girls can die from blood loss or infection, while later in life victims are twice as likely to die from childbirth and four times as likely to give birth to a stillborn child.
The practise was outlawed in the UK in 1985 and it is considered to be a form of child abuse.
Just last month Detective Inspector Wendy Bird, from West Midlands Police, admitted that intelligence on FGM across the region was "very poor" despite the presence of "huge communities here where we know women are being cut".
DI Bird chairs the Birmingham Against Female Genital Mutilation group which was also established by the community safety partnership.
Their annual report stated there were 57 FGM referrals to West Midlands Police (three crime, 54 non-crime) in 2018/19 – a reduction of 22 from the previous year. There are currently no ongoing prosecutions.
In the same period there were 272 female births to mothers who were victims of FGM in University Hospitals Birmingham.
Visit lscpbirmingham.org.uk/fgm for more information on FGM and how to contact support services.
The NHS advise that anyone in immediate danger should call 999 while people concerned that someone else may be at risk can contact the NSPCC helpline on 0800 028 3550 or email fgmhelp@nspcc.org.uk
