Shocking figures reveal 92 per cent of married women in Egypt have suffered female genital mutilation

Up to 92 per cent of married women in Egypt
have undergone female genital mutilation, it has
been revealed.
The country’s Minister of Health Adel Adawy said
the figure relates to women aged between 15 and
49 – and is even higher at 95 per cent in rural
areas.
Most females undergo the procedure between the
ages of nine and 12 and less than a third of the
operations are carried out by doctors, the minister
said.



Up to 92 per cent of married women in Egypt
have undergone female genital mutilation, it has
been revealed. A young girl is pictured above
undergoing FGM in Egypt in 1987
According to Egyptian Streets , the statistics were
revealed at a conference examining the results of
last year’s Egypt Demographic and Health Survey.
It found that 30 per cent of married women
believe the practice should be banned – but more
than half were in favour of the procedure for
religious reasons.
Egypt has one of the highest rates of female
genital mutilation in the world and criminalised
the practice in 2008, but it remains widespread.

Human rights group Equality Now revealed earlier
this year that almost one in four survivors of
female genital mutilation in the world is from the
country.
Earlier this year Egyptian doctor Raslan Fadl was
convicted of manslaughter and performing female
genital mutilation that led to the death of 13-
year-old Sohair el-Batea, sentencing him to more
than two years in prison.
The verdict was described as a ‘a triumph for
women’ by lawyers representing the girl.
A PRACTICE AFFECTING MILLIONS: WHAT IS
FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION?
Female genital mutilation (FGM) is the deliberate
removal of all or part of the external female
genitalia.
The World Health Organisation describes FGM as
any procedure that injures the female genital
organs for non-medical reasons. It is also
referred to as female circumcision or female
cutting.
FGM is mostly carried out on young girls in
adolescence but is also carried out during
childhood and sometimes on babies.
In some cultures, it is seen as a right of passage
into womanhood and a condition of marriage.
Some believe the genitals will be 'unclean' if the
female does not have FGM.




Women in developing countries are putting their
health at risk by carrying out a practice known as
'dry sex'. This involves drying out the vagina
using substances from sand to pulverized rock to
bleach, in order to make sex more pleasurable for
men
There is also a common belief that women need
to have FGM to have babies. But, infact, FGM
can cause infertility and an increased risk of
childbirth complications.
The procedure is often carried out by a woman
with no medical training.
Anaesthetics and antiseptic treatments are not
generally used and the practice is usually carried
out using knives, scissors, scalpels, pieces of
glass or razor blades.
The procedure can cause severe bleeding and
infections, which can last the woman's entire
lifetime.
It is estimated that 3 million girls are cut every
year across the world. Around 23,000 of these are
carried out in the UK. The practice is particularly
rife in some African, Middle Eastern and Asian
countries.
Survivors talk for NSPCC's Ending Female Genital
Mutilation
In Africa, more than three million girls have been
estimated to be at risk of female genital
mutilation annually, according to the World Health
Organisation.
It estimates that more than 125 million girls and
women alive today have been cut in the 29
countries in Africa and Middle East where FGM is
concentrated.
The practice is most common in the western,
eastern, and north-eastern regions of Africa, in
some countries in Asia and the Middle East, and
among migrants from these areas.