Underlying Reasons for the Persistence of Female Genital Mutilation

three or four years old when her grandmother took her to Ngariba to have her undergo FGM. She
explained that when she was growing up every girl she knew had undergone some form of
female circumcision, it was a norm in the society. In Fatima case her grandmother was the one
who wanted her to be circumcised in order to be able to get married and fulfil her duties as a
woman. When Fatima was 13 her grandmother wanted her to marry a man whom she did not
know. She chose not to go through with this and she ran away to Babati, where her parents live.
However her mother is ill and her father is not present, therefore she is taken care of by the
Muslim orphanage. When asking about the health consequences, she did not have any
complications. However, what she remembered about the procedure was that she had pain for
about a month, and she could not walk or stand properly. The only discomfort she experiences
today is the she feels different from other girls that have not been circumcised in the community
she currently lives in.
After the interview I recall asking Fatima what she wanted to be when she grows up, she told me
that first she wanted to go to school to become a teacher. She felt strongly about being forced to
get married in such an early age and she wishes that women had more rights in deciding what
they want to do with their lives. She said that by having an education and given the ability to
choose when to get married and who to marry, she would never feel inferior to men.
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