With war and political upheaval in the US dominating the headlines of late, there has been a vote in Gambia that’s gone unreported but could have been disastrous for women’s rights. The Gambia’s National Assembly had tabled a vote about whether to keep its 2015 ban on female genital mutilation.
Fortunately, following months of intensive campaigning by grassroots women activists, 34 out of the 53 members of the assembly present at a repeal bill’s second reading on earlier this month, responded to calls to continue to protect the country’s women and girls, 73% of whom have already undergone this devastating human rights violation.
But I’m shocked and alarmed that the vote got this far.
The attempt to repeal The Gambia’s anti FGM legislation is part of the growing global push back against progressive legislation for women, or going backwards on hard won court cases like Roe v Wade in the US. The pro FGM lobby of The Gambia is as well organised as the anti-choice movement in the West, led by men who seek to rewrite religious beliefs in favour of the oppression and abuse of women and girls.
The tactics of Imam Fatty, the figure head of the movement to repeal the legislation against FGM, are no different from those employed by right wingers, who in the last few years successfully ripped away reproductive health rights from women in the US and in Eastern Europe. Fatty organised for years and to show how powerful he and his followers were, his political stooges tabled the bill to legalise FGM on International Women’s Day. A day meant for celebration this year became a reminder of how hard men are working to drag women and girls back into the dark ages.
As an FGM survivor myself, I know the heartache that Gambian women such as Fatou Baldeh, founder of Women in Liberation and Leadership and Jaha Dukureh, founder of Safe Hands for Girls, felt when they found themselves having scramble to protect the hard won gains we made nine years ago.
These award-winning activists worked as part of a strong coalition against an aggressive and violent mob led by the shameful cleric Fatty. Before launching the attack on the legal protection against FGM, Fatty had already tried to prevent the course of justice by paying fines for perpetrators of FGM as well as organising mass 'cutting' of young girls in rural parts of The Gambia.
Had FGM become legal once again in The Gambia, I know that it would have also given renewed energy to those in favour of committing violence against girls in my homeland, Somaliland, and elsewhere across the African continent. We have seen those who support FGM becoming more confident to publicly state their views. What has happened in The Gambia over the last few months has been catastrophic and put in jeopardy the advances that have been made towards equality for women and girls. So as relieved as I am that the legislation in The Gambia will stay in place, we cannot rest.
The last decade of change to enact laws and policies for African women and girls has been particularly precarious. It feels like it could roll back at any moment and that any wrong move could unleash an avalanche. This can only be prevented if we invest in grassroots African women-led organisations, as they are the only ones who can push harder for gender equality on the continent. It is increasingly obvious that locally-led activism is the main reason we still have a law banning FGM in The Gambia.
Over 5 years ago, I co-founded The Five Foundation, The Global Partnership To End FGM, to make sure the conversation on how to end this FGM is African-led — and to make sure that funding is dramatically increased for grassroots activism. For far too long our stories have been used against us — including by the international development community — to the detriment of funding and other forms of capacity-building support from women’s groups on the frontlines. I am glad that we have made solid progress and have leveraged significant funding, although the issue continues to be relatively ignored among the philanthropic sector.
I am particularly proud that The Five Foundation was able to work intensively behind the scenes to leverage significant funding and other support to Gambian groups such as WILL and Think Young Women. The governments of the UK and US — including their embassies on the ground — have been particularly supportive too in our collective effort.
I hope this signals a new era of better funding for grassroots activists, and a renewed recognition that those most affected by issues such as FGM and 'child marriage' are those best positioned to end them.
Nimco Ali OBE is CEO of The Five Foundation, The Global Partnership To End FGM.