The Guardian view on the campaign to end female genital mutilation: keep up the momentum

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jul/27/guardian-view-female-genital-mutilation

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The point at which a movement gathers critical momentum can be hard to detect. But sometime between February, when the Guardian launched its petition to end FGM, and last Tuesday’s Girl Summit when top politicians, lobbyists and campaigners, like Fahma Mohamed from Bristol and Jaha Dukureh from Gambia via the US, met in London to mobilise global support, the mood was transformed. Doors were opened. Political leaders found space in their diaries. From being a disconcerting concern of development specialists and feminists, the campaign to end FGM is now at the centre of a broad worldwide campaign to tackle violence against girls and women.

This year’s achievements have been remarkable. More than 250,000 people signed the Guardian petition. In April the then education secretary Michael Gove met Fahma Mohamed and agreed to ask every school to find a way to educate pupils about FGM. In the US, the Obama administration has acceded to Jaha Dukureh’s call for a new survey to update the incidence of FGM. And at last week’s summit, David Cameron and Nick Clegg promised new legislation to end it.

Momentum takes a long time to build. The UN and its commission on the status of women have been preparing the ground for years. The Guardian campaign launched on the UN’s day of zero tolerance for FGM. Timing matters, and the political timing fell helpfully: the new international development secretary, Justine Greening, may have spotted it as a particular campaign where she could make her mark. Lynn Featherstone, her Lib Dem junior, was already taking a close interest. And the government wanted to try to repair relations with women voters. All of this helped.

Minds had to be changed. Where people were aware at all of FGM, many still thought of it as the female equivalent of male circumcision, an aspect of cultural identity. There had to be a much wider understanding of what it is, what it does, and that it is absolutely not a cultural or religious obligation but a symbol of men’s power over women. Most of all, people had to realise that it was happening to girls living in Britain and sometimes even being done in Britain. Fahma Mohamed played an indispensable role in public education.

And beyond savouring a moment of success, it is vital to remember too that political support and a global movement are merely the starting point in ending FGM. There will be wrong turnings. Doctors fear making it mandatory to report cutting regardless of the context may be one. If it plays into a right wing agenda about cultural difference, there could be unintended consequences. Most importantly, FGM, like early forced marriage, is rooted in a deeply unequal world. That will not end when FGM is stamped out.