In Colombia, efforts to end FGM are empowering women to be leaders
Solany Zapata first heard about female genital mutilation (FGM) when she gave birth to her daughter. Her mother-in-law insisted she had to cut her newborn’s clitoris. Shocked, Ms. Zapata refused.
Fifty years after a terrible childbirth injury, Kenyan woman gets a new lease on life
Decades ago, Jumwa Kabibu Kai was pregnant with her second child in the small village of Kidutani, Kenya. The area was poor and isolated – her nearest neighbour was 3 kilometres away – and there was no easy access to a health facility. But Ms. Kai did not know these circumstances would initiate “50 years of a long nightmare,” as she later described it.
The first rule of the married girls’ club is: empower girls
Fatuma was married off five years ago, when she was just 13. Like most girls from the remote Afar Region of Ethiopia, she had undergone female genital mutilation (FGM) when she was just a baby, and it was expected that her scars would open up during the wedding night.
Refugee mother and daughter fight rocketing rates of child marriage
“A girl I know from school here in the camp got married last year when she was 15,” Saba, 16, told UNFPA. Saba encouraged her friend to delay pregnancy until her body was more mature. But the pressure to have a child was too great. “Three months ago, she was pregnant with twins but had a miscarriage. I told her she should stop because her body isn’t ready yet, but she and her husband are adamant about having a child.”
Local Egyptian heroine aims to end “huge” suffering caused by FGM
In her daily life, Hoda Hamed, is a quiet 37-year-old kindergarten teacher, but when she is off the clock, she is a force of nature. Ms. Hamed is an outspoken advocate for women and girls, working tirelessly to convince her rural Egyptian community to abandon female genital mutilation (FGM).