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Female circumcision is curbed in Egypt

Egyptian health policy has shifted from trying to control the practice by keeping it under government supervision towards more outright condemnation. In October 1995 health minister Ismail Sallam banned female circumcision from being carried out in state hospitals, a direct reversal of a decree enacted in 1994 that asked state hospitals to set aside one day a week for carrying out the procedure. The further restriction was announced by Sallam on 17 July and follows an incident earlier this month when an 11 year old girl bled to death in the rural area of Mansoora after being circumcised by a barber. "This health minister has made it clear that he is against the practice, which is encouraging," said Dr Barbara Ibrahim, regional director in Cairo for the Population Council.

Female genital mutilation in Egypt changed from an accepted if seldom talked about custom to a political hot topic after the news network CNN aired a story in September 1994 featuring the circumcision of a 9 year old girl from Cairo. The footage, showing the girl held down by a barber, screaming in protest while he performed the operation with a razor, embarrassed Egyptians and fuelled an outcry by women's groups and non-governmental organisations.

Statistics compiled in 1994 by Egypt's former ministry of population (now a subdivision of the ministry of health) estimated that between 70% and 90% of Egyptian women were circumcised. But a more recent survey conducted by the international group Marco puts the figure even higher, with 97% of women in both rural and urban areas reporting that they have been circumcised. Circumcisions range from clitoridectomies to almost total removal of the outside genitalia.

The practice seems to be rooted in both African tradition and Islamic beliefs, although Islamic religious leaders are divided on the issue. Many Islamic countries do not practise female circumcision, and, according to tradition, the Prophet Mohammed did not have his own daughters circumcised. But the main motivation seems to be in controlling women's sexual urges and in the idea that circumcision makes a woman more feminine. "A girl must be circumcised, or she will grow up like a man," said shop owner Mahmood Hassan. "Who will marry her if she is this way?"

Most circumcisions in Egypt are performed by barbers or midwives, despite a sporadically enforced law forbidding the operation by anyone but a trained medical staff member. There is a high rate of complications, with some operations leading to infertility.

Dr Saed Thabet, a professor of gynaecology at Cairo's Kasr El Aini Teaching Hospital, believes that female circumcision is necessary, although he thinks that it should be performed only by doctors. The study pamphlets that he distributes to his students include a section on how circumcision is healthier for the woman. "Both Islam and medicine agree on its benefits," said Dr Thabet. "Uncircumcised girls will want sex more than is healthy. And they are more liable to infections and cancers."

Groups like the Population Council hope that further education and public debate will help to stop the practice, particularly if the government takes a firm stand.--JENNIFER WIENS, freelance journalist, Cairo

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This article has been cited by other articles:

• Guine, A., Moreno Fuentes, F. J. (2007). Engendering Redistribution, Recognition, and Representation: The Case of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in the United Kingdom and France. Politics Society 35: 477-519 [Abstract]