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Cameroon
Yesterday’s traditions — today’s blasphemy
SOCIAL CONDIT.
Though female genital mutilation is only residual
in Cameroon,
it still exists in remote areas of the country.
Civil society has declared war on these practices
According to the World Health Organisation, female genital mutilation or circumcision affected 130 million people throughout the world in 1998. Fifty countries, 28 of them African, still retain these practices. In Cameroon, the existence of these practices –-considered marginal by the experts -– still exists in three regions: the extreme north, the east and the English-speaking province on the Nigerian border. The persistence of this practice is due to the perpetuation of some age-old traditions. The Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), the Inter-African Committee on Harmful Practices-Cameroon (AIC-CAMEROON), which specialises in the fight against female genital mutilation, has tried to appraise the situation.
Poverty and superstition
It appears that female genital mutilation owes its existence to magico-religious beliefs. It can serve as a rite of passage from adolescence to maturity or as an induction into initiation societies (such as the Monkem dance in South West Cameroon). The women who practice this ritual enjoy the esteem and respect of their community. Mrs Mbia Brokie, from Akwaya village, who has herself been circumcised, told the Press: «A woman who is not mutilated is regarded as a pariah and is rejected by society».
However paradoxical that may seem, circumcision is also looked upon by its defenders as a means of feminine advancement. In the three regions in question, the clitoris is considered to be a penis, an abnormal excrescence of the female genitalia. Its removal restores to women their «lost femininity». Fertility is also attributed to having it excised. In a society where children are valued, this is a weighty argument. A newly-born is looked upon as a treasure, and sterility as a tragedy. Thus, sterile women submit to this practice all the more readily.
Furthermore, the supporters of female circumcision consider this practice as a means of ensuring order and harmony. By suppressing sexual desires, women are saved from sexual vagrancy which is harmful to conjugal harmony. Finally, let us not forget that genital mutilation is the principal source of revenue for women who perform circumcisions. It also enhances their prestige.
Apart from female circumcision’s defenders, there are many factors which add weight to these ancient practices. Isolation, physically as well as figuratively, seems to be the best ally of the circumcisers and their supporters. In fact, the principal female circumcision centres in Cameroon are in remote areas. The people live as recluses, cut off from the rest of the country because of the poor state of the paths which connect them with the outside world. Without outside contacts, time seems to stand still in the small villages which are ruled by the dictates of village elders, who are the quintessence of conservatism and backwardness.
What is worse, because young girls in those areas are entrapped by ignorance and lack of schooling, the women come to consider mutilations as a misfortune which one has to submit to inevitably. Likewise, women’s economic marginalisation is an important factor. In the south-west, women count on circumcision to better their social standing. Besides the power and the esteem gained, they believe that this practice furthers material wealth.
It must be admitted that women themselves bear a heavy responsibility for the continuation of these mutilations. Contrary to the opinion that African women play a purely passive role in society, the reality is, that it is the women, as guardians of tradition, who fashion the world in which they live. In the case of female circumcision, they are both upstream and downstream in the chain of causation. Upstream, it is they who initiate the process. According to Ayukegba, a circumcised woman from the village of Ayoumojock (south-west), it was her mother who took the initiative to have her circumcised, only four days after her first childbirth. Downstream in the process, women are omnipresent: the ones who are the agents of genital mutilation are generally women. They are not in the least worried about the enormous risks incurred by these practises. In the short run, the victim can be traumatised and infected with AIDS or hepatitis, for the operators generally use the same instruments for collective circumcisions. There is a long term risk of recurrent infection of the genital tract and sterility.
However, civil society, and in particular the NGO IAC-CAMEROON, is resolutely involved in curbing this practise. The results are encouraging.
IAC-CAMEROON has accepted a sharing approach. Communities in the target areas (east, south-east and the extreme north of Cameroon) are closely involved with this NGO. They have become full partners in the project. In practice, IAC-CAMEROON meets with local communities, listens to them, studies their traditions and way of life, carefully avoiding any value judgements. Then the two parties engage in frank and courteous discussion, followed up by awareness campaigns. The principal targets are traditional midwives, circumcisers, animist religious leaders, traditional chiefs, women and young girls. Furthermore the NGO educates people –- generally circumcised women -– who are prepared to carry on the NGO‘s work locally.
In a press interview, Comfort Effiom, Lady President of IAC-CAMEROON, stated that she was happy that «the supporters of female genital mutilation of ten years ago, are now ardent opposers of the practice. Most parents do not want their daughters to be circumcised, just as young married men object to the circumcision of their spouses».
This initiative by civilians deserves to be supported by governments, if only by the passing of laws prescribing female genital mutilation. A socio-economic program to help women and young girls should be set up in those areas. The aim: To limit the vulnerability of women. The professional retraining of those who practice female genital mutilation should be taken on board. Finally, the mixing of people and ideas by breaking down the isolation of the areas in question, and a massive education program for young girls would make a considerable contribution. For female genital mutilation arises from ignorance, superstition and prejudice.
Jean David Mihamle, Cameroon, March 2000 — © Reproduction authorised, with usual acknowledgment
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