Women Health and Violence between progress and tradition

Q:Consider the different terminologies used for the cutting of female genitalia, as discussed in the text, "From Outrage to Courage.” Discuss the implications of using these different terminologies:
• Female Genital Mutilation or FGM, comprises all procedures that involve the partial or total removal of external genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons. The term female genital mutilation is now more widely used both by the World Health Organisation and by many African groups advocating the elimination of the practice. The World Health Organisation (WHO), as part of its core mandate to provide assistance to Member States in achieving the goal of the highest attainable standard of health for all, issued in 2008 an inter agency statement on eliminating FGM. The statement describes, among other things, the negative implications of the practice for the health and, very importantly, for the human rights of girls and women, and declared vigorous support for its abandonment. The aspiration to alleviate the associated adverse health conditions and to restore violated human rights constitutes the cornerstone of these guidelines.
UNICEF estimated in 2016 that 200 million women had undergone the procedures in 27 countries in Africa, as well as in Indonesia, Iraqi Kurdistan and Yemen, with a rate of 80–98 percent within the 15–49 age group in Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Guinea, Mali, Sierra Leone, Somalia and Sudan. The practice is also found elsewhere in Asia, the Middle East, and among communities from these areas around the world. Female Genital Cutting or FGC its a term of reference used by part of the many organisations working to eradicate the practice. This is done out of respect for women who have undergone the ritual and do not wish to consider themselves mutilated. Female Circumcision that has been used to somewhat create a connection to the practise. It is needless to say very different and it has been recognised to be misleading and dangerous to consider the two practises as similar. The practise enforced on girls is more is a clitoridectomy: the partial or total removal of the clitoris which is a female sexual organ"; with  male circumcision partial or total removal of foreskin on the penis, it is also part of religious law among muslims, Coptic Christians, Judaism and Ethiopian Orthodoxy.
https://d3c33hcgiwev3.cloudfront.net/_5fe64dbe20685c710255861ffce53705_3.3_UNICEF_report_news_compil...
https://www.unicef.org/media/files/FGMC_2016_brochure_final_UNICEF_SPREAD.pdf

Based on the experience in Sierra Leone and other countries, explain how and why you believe different cultural practices are maintained in a community. Is there any possibility of shifting cultural practices?
According to different sources on FGM in Sierra Leone, a crucial factor for why there is still no Law against FGM would seem to be two main reasons:
1. the economic incentive that gives reason for the practice to exist. It is shocking to read that the policy makers in ruling political parties are using the FGM as a strategy to be voted.An interesting factor is that Sierra Leone a signatory of CEDAW. FGM is in clear contrast to its core value of the integry of the body of a woman and the freedom to choose.
2.The intricacies and complexities of a society and the relations between politics and systems of traditional law makers -the elders in this case-  plays a crucial role in the health and future of many girls. This transpires from the statement quoted by IRIN news of Sierra Leone's Minister for Social Welfare, Gender and Child Protection "will do something if the women themselves ask for it". https://d3c33hcgiwev3.cloudfront.net/_ba5dee337eab2570faf843d0ff885498_3.6_IRIN_Sierra_Leone_vote_wi...
Sierra Leone a signatory of CEDAW. FGM is in clear contrast to its core value of the integrity of the body of a woman and the freedom to choose. The 2007 Child Rights Act where it states " [...]the child from neglect, discrimination,violence, abuse, exposure to physical and moral hazards and oppression [...]" Although the Child Rights Act protects children from harmful practices, there is no law that specifically bans Female Genital Mutilation in Sierra Leone but these communities are giving a great example of what is possible,” http://www.amnet-online.org/resources/ 
https://www.amnesty.orgs/en/latest/news/2014/07/communities-sierra-leone-turn-their-backs-female-geni...
It is encouraging that in Sierra Leone 40% of young men in favour of stopping FGM. Women are the carriers of the FGM tradition of the Secret Society Bondu Society, their opposition mainly seems to be based on belief that women that cut will end up unwanted, unmarried, and ostriced from society. For women that had no formal education it about status, the new found power in the community. considering the FGM a rite of passage to womanhood and given the belief of being a wise woman and operate under the assumption that " no more education is needed"   https://d3c33hcgiwev3.cloudfront.net/_d5e5f299eee5a7bdc91f228c534b0309_FOTC_Chapter_3_Education_Disc...
This reminds me infact of when the topic came up when I was in High school in Eritrea. I remember consulting my mother and my grandmother on the FGM and and realising that I had asked a question that was not to be asked. It is a topic of taboo, just as much as talking about sexual rituals or menstruation.The topic of FGM was considered something that its there is happens, it is part of the culture. I am from a christian Ethiopian Orthodox family, and the violence of FGM is perpetuated as much as the Muslim communities. It is something that pre-dates religion but that somehow it has been intertwined with faith and its concept of purity, chastity and wholeness.
On March 31st 2007 The Eritrean Government passed a law against FGM. According to reports mentioned below, more than 90 percent of women of 5 of the 9 ethnic groups The Tigray ethnic group (which comprises 30-40 percent of Eritreas population) performs one of these procedures on girl between the ages of five and seven years.The procedure is generally not performed in Eritrea after the age of seven.According to the the survey, educated women living in Asmara and other large cities and women who are ex soldiers in the war of independence, are least likely to have their daughters undergo this procedures and Beliefs:most of those who practice FGM/FGC believe it is a religious requirement. The high prevalence is also due to family and social pressures. Grandmothers are a particular source of pressure for continuing the practice.There is a widespread belief that women who have not undergone this procedure will be promiscuous. In some cases in which a child’s parents have refused to submit their daughter to it, the grandmother has had it done against the parents’wishes. The sentence "zeytekenshebt gual aynhadar ay nqumneger" meaning "FGM woman from being wild, she becomes wiser and gets her married", a very much alive saying is of most Eritrean tigrinya and other ethnic groups.
https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/eoir/legacy/2013/06/10/eritrea_2.pdf
http://orchidproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Eritrea.pdf

Women's health and Coumminty Center's Role in Accessing Information: the case of Center"Casa di Ramia" in Italy

Casa di Ramia ( House of Ramia) is a Women's Public Community Centre. It is base din Verona the region of Veneto in  Italy. The Centre is under direct supervision of the Department for Equal Opportunities of the commune of Verona. The administrators are 2 public social workers. It was opened in the '90 with the intention to create a space for women of different ethnic ,religious,cultural and political background to have a chance to interact. The space CasadiRamia Its main focus has always been to provide the chance to the organisations NGOs informal groups and individuals  wanting to engage with the community can use the space as a hub and co-working place. It has been a place of Empowerment, Education and Dialogue on diverse topics. Talking to the administrator social worker : The place is exclusively for women with the intention to create a safe for women environment. According to the administrator this has allowed the Centre to be known in Verona's  most migrant women as the perfect place to go and participate in activities for women of diverse religions that would be otherwise not comfortable for women to interact with men outside the family. The women that often are present at the centre are Muslim women of North Africa, Nigerian women, East European women and Italian women as well. One of the basic rules is that there is no religious prejudice and all are welcome. IT is also child friendly space. It was well thought as this in fact permits women to bring also their children and interact in the centre with women of other cultures faith and languages as best as they can. The CasadiRamia has a public small library computers and a class room for courses. The courses  given are all for free. some of the courses are lessons of Italian, French, English and Arabic. Among the most important are the Storytelling Project. This a crucial moment,led by a published writer,  the women share their stories of motherhood, trauma of rape, trauma of domestic abuse, as well as racism and access to basic needs in Italy. Often this stories are a hint for the social worker and operators  of association to organise classes on different topics: sexual education  STD,reproductive health care in  Verona, FGM, basic computer skills, legal information on Child rights, Public health care and social welfare access. All these courses are also available at the Public health centre but rarely do the health workers interact with the Community Centres like CasadiRamia and this is in fact weakness due to lack of resources . Many cases of health issues related to violence and reported by the women to the social workers and NGO operators are immediately refereed to the Departments for Equal Opportunities for further referral to adequate services. The Public departments are starting to acknowledge these specific needs and are mapping their services and create network that can be also easily accessible to women that are not Italian, and that rarely speak Italian well before 2 or 3 years. Talking to the women receiving the service: the general response was positive and all replied wishing similar places Community centre existed in different ares of the city too. Many are happy casa that Ramia exists. They wouldn't know where else to spend their time  learning In fact many women come for distant areas just to be able to interact with other women. They feel encouraged to do activities of peer to peer training. Most of the training provided, such as cooking , sewing, computer course and language course it is of course informal education and often no valid certification can be provided for them these women that can be spendable for work. Many of the women that are coming to casadiRamia are unemployed. Sometimes they come seeking for work. Many women say that they are grateful to the safety Italy provides them but now they would like to have intensive  Italian language training so they can read and have access to all the public services themselves without support.

Trough the years I had different occasion to interact with that Community Centre.  I believe "CasadiRamia" has been a pilot project and a mode to imitate for many other neighbour cities, but often failed as they encountered difficulty in having public  government funds. There is a somewhat conservative and right wing politics in Veneto. Thus it impacts not only the immigrant women's inclusion into society trough Gender based research has been done by various university students, including myself, interviewing women on their perception of CasadiRamia.
CasadiRamia 's administrator compiles monthly report to the Department on the activities and the needs of the Community Center and asks for budgeting but often the public funds are not available for all the course is mentioned to be carried out by paid professional or companies thus the certificate Can be used to access the work market. This Community Centre  has been a place of knowledge and possibilities and voice for women, and often tries to address problems and issues that should be the government's public responsibility. The Operators that interact with the women in CasadiRamia often lobby for improvement. There should be better financing and training for the volunteers. Recently the situation has improved. The new politicians in power have supported the opening of similar women's co-working places in the city.
There is still a long away to go. The Conservative mentality needs to change and the Italian  society has been struggling with a growing number of migrants this , added to the fact the Italian economy isn't at its best, doe not help the general sentiment but

Dichiarazione di Beijing ONU e l'Attualità dei Diritti umani delle donne.

Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action- Fourth World Conference on Women - 15/9/1995:
a mile stone in the struggle for  women's human rights    

Reading the Beijing Declaration I get always overwhelmed by the will of women struggling a better world. It was I believe the first time in the history of humanity that such a number of women form all over the world were able to come together and initiate a path for improving women’s lives a round the World. It is a declaration stating that human rights are also women's rights that are being forgotten, . The commitments that interested me are many,here are some:
“196(b) Advocate at all levels to enable women to influence political, economic and social decisions, processes and systems, and work towards seeking accountability from elected representatives on their commitment to gender concerns
249.[...]Governments have expressed their commitment to creating a new development paradigm that integrates environmental sustainability with gender equality and justice within and between generations as contained in chapter 24 of Agenda 21.
291[...]There should be a clear commitment to international norms and standards of equality between women and men as a basis for all actions.”

 
It was the celebration of commitments by nations and governments. It was made clear that even if women came from different countries,different social, economic, religious and culture realities they had common problems. Henceforth women’s human rights violation were declared to transcend the economic status. Women being violated happened among the rich and the poor, the high-income and the low-income. The lack of proper legislation and accountability, the paucity by policy makers in recognising these circumstances, made women twice victims leaving them feel invisible thus reducing them to silence. On that account, Universal Declaration of Human rights is insufficient to safeguard also women,girls and children. This was vastly demonstrated and declared at previous United Nations conferences and summits - on women in Nairobi in 1985, on children in New York in 1990, on environment and development in Rio De Janeiro in 1992, on human rights in Vienna in 1993, on population and development in Cairo in 1994 and on social development in Copenhagen in 1995 with the objectives of achieving equality, development and peace women’s rights violation as societies around the world often consider them as a separate entity with no rights ,or simply lesser right than a man.Societies where women are considered shadows of men are still committing crimes unpunished. It was a declaration of commitments by nations and governments to do better. But it was most of all it was a historic moment that. Not all countries have respected the commitment made in Beijing to finance programs, implement legislation for the safekeeping of women and girls.
The political and social economic situation of many countries at the present moment has become a justification for those governments to not feel as they should respect the commitments taken. There are nations that are not yet feeling pressured enough to respect the commitment develop successful national implementation strategies for the Platform for Action, for instance. Governments where still there is a culture of systematic violence against women and girls girl child. These governments as we all know do not allocate sufficient resources. the strength of these leading women , activists and influential women that helped many more women stand their ground on safeguarding themselves and their children. Some of those strong women had a crucial role in the education and empowerment of women like my mother. Empowered woman that choose not to do Genital Mutilation on her 4 daughters. To educate her son to the respect  women instilling the belief we are equal. Many women like her face hard dissents from the elders of towns that still have power over law. Her strength allowed me to leave the forceful military life.Her strength come from the strength and determination of many before her that were stepped on but managed to bass the light. It is a new dawn. The fact remains: change has come, and many women are empowered, educated and have the know how on the mechanisms of politics and policy making, have the know how to pressure and call on governments to implement change. The important fact is that there is unity in the struggle of women for human rights. Unity inspires many, men and women,  humanity is improving, and that in its self is, for the women that started this struggle decades ago, is a step forward. The women of Beijing had one message: “No more to silence. We are watching, we are empowered and not asking permission anymore. We are here to stay and see commitments been implemented by the countries we belong to”. This being said I believe in better times. After all what are human rights if not the wish and belief that inspire us to work, advocate and demand for the better world the human race has envisioned learning from its mistakes?

Resources and info:
http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/beijing/pdf/Beijing%20full%20report%20E.pdf