CAIRO (Web Desk) – Of the more than 125 million girls and women who have undergone the procedure of female genital mutilation (FGM), one in four live in Egypt. That’s more than any other country in the world, according to the United Nations.
For millions of schoolgirls in Egypt, Summer is the time of year that represents something much darker: the start of the FGM season, reported CNN.
FGM or traditional “cutting” has been a brutal rite of passage for young girls since the time of the pharaohs. Ninety-two percent of married Egyptian women aged 15 to 49 have been subjected to FGM, according to a Egyptian government report released in May.
Most girls are cut between the ages of nine and 12, and the operations usually take place during the summer school break so the girls can recover at home.
UN officials say FGM has no medical benefits and can cause lifelong physical and emotional trauma for the women forced to undergo the procedure.
“This is a gross human rights violation,” Jaime Nadal-Roig, the UN Population Fund representative in Cairo, told CNN. “It doesn’t add anything to the life of the girl, and there are no medical or religious grounds whatsoever.”
Usually, circumcision is performed with a razor blade by a traditional midwife with no medical knowledge, who put dust on their wounds to stop the bleeding.
FGM is considered a way to “purify” a girl and make her marriage material.
