‘Only 1 in 10 women okay with FMG on daughters’

MUMBAI: Only one in 10 women who have experienced female genital mutilation (FGM) — called khatna by the Dawoodi Bohra community that follows the custom — said they were okay with performing it on their daughter, according to an online survey conducted by Sahiyo, a non-governmental organisation that has been campaigning to end the practice.

Khatna refers to the removal of the prepuce from the genitalia of girls and is mainly practiced by communities in Africa and Asia. The World Health Organisation terms khatna as a violation of human rights. The practice is banned in many European and American countries and adults who force children to undergo the practice can be punished.

Recently, a court in Sydney convicted three Bohras for the circumcision of two young girls. After this, anjumans or community associations across the world asked their members to stop the practice.

According to Sahiyo, the results of the survey highlights that some women want to continue the practice as it’s a social norm.

However, another member said, “Many of the women who have experienced khatna did not want to continue the practice for their daughters. It shows a positive change. However, it is an online survey and had a small sample size,” said a member of Sahiyo.

As many as 400 women from across the participated in the survey.

The findings also indicated that there is no relationship between socio-economic status of women and the likelihood of them experiencing FGC as 80% of them surveyed had at least some educational qualification. The findings of the survey was released in Mumbai on Monday.