Abstract: The West African nation of Sierra Leone has one of the highest rates of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in the world: approximately 90% of girls and women in the country have undergone the procedure.[i] The prevalence of FGM in Sierra Leone is associated with the Bondo Society, a female-led secret society that plays a critical role in establishing societal expectations for Sierra Leonean womanhood. Although FGM is associated with severe medical risks and human rights violations, efforts to curb the practice in Sierra Leone have been significantly hindered by adherence to the Bondo Society’s traditional values. Effectively combating FGM, therefore, requires the national government in Freetown to explicitly denounce the practice, as well as mass educational campaigns to reshape entrenched attitudes towards FGM. Sierra Leone represents a critical case study in FGM eradication measures, not only due to the pervasiveness of the procedure in the country, but also how an effective solution requires a complex coordination of top-down and bottom-up procedures to redefine cultural beliefs towards FGM and achieve substantial progress in lowering the frequency of the procedure in the country.
Introduction
The West African nation of Sierra Leone, which has a population of approximately six million people, has one of the highest rates of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in the world. According to a 2019 UNICEF report on the rates of FGM in Sierra Leone, approximately 90% of girls and women in the country have undergone the procedure.[ii] The prevalence of FGM in Sierra Leone is associated with the Bondo Society, a female-led secret society that plays a critical role in establishing societal expectations for Sierra Leonean womanhood. Although FGM is associated with severe medical risks and human rights violations, efforts to curb the practice in Sierra Leone have been significantly hindered by adherence to the Bondo Society’s traditional values. Effectively combating FGM, therefore, requires the national government in Freetown to explicitly denounce the practice, as well as mass educational campaigns to reshape entrenched attitudes towards FGM. Sierra Leone represents a critical case study in FGM eradication measures, not only due to the pervasiveness of the procedure in the country, but also how an effective solution requires a complex coordination of top-down and bottom-up procedures to redefine cultural beliefs towards FGM and achieve substantial progress in lowering the frequency of the procedure in the country.
Background: The Bondo Society and FGM in Sierra Leone
The practice of FGM in Sierra Leone originated centuries ago and has evolved into a tradition which virtually the entire population has adopted. FGM predates the arrival of Islam and Christianity in Sierra Leone, which today comprise 78% and 20%, respectively, of the country’s religious adherents.[iii] Neither the Quran nor the Bible refer to FGM, so Muslim and Christian women are not fulfilling religious obligations when they undergo the procedure.[iv] Furthermore, the practice is not disproportionally represented by a dominant ethnic group, as studies suggest that nearly all of Sierra Leone’s ethnic groups— with the notable exception of the Krio, who make up about 10% of the country’s population— partake in the practice.[v] Therefore, the demographic evidence in Sierra Leone reveals that FGM is a widespread cultural practice that transcends religious and ethnic categorizations.
These cultural values, in turn, are embedded in secret societies that abound in Sierra Leone. In the case of FGM, the practice is heavily connected to the operations of the all-female Bondo Society that maintain traditional standards for femininity throughout the country. The Bondo Society yields enormous influence in Sierra Leone: 90% of women identify themselves as Bondo Society members, and the institution represents seventeen ethnic groups.[vi] Only the Krio ethnic group are alleged to not participate in the Bondo Society.[vii] Communities throughout Sierra Leone believe that joining the Bondo Society signifies a rite of passage, as it not only marks the transition from girlhood to womanhood, but it also designates newly initiated members of the Bondo Society as full-fledged members of their community.[viii] The first step in joining the Bondo Society requires a girl to undergo FGM: uncut girls participate in a ritual in which senior members of the Bondo Society, known as soweis, lead them to a secluded area to perform the procedure.[ix] During the recovery period, the soweis and other members of the Bondo Society discuss topics ranging from sexuality, marriage, family life, and their expected roles in the community.[x] Afterwards, the girls return to their communities as the newest members of the Bondo Society. They are rewarded with gifts, festivities, and public recognition to celebrate how FGM has transformed them into respectable women and community members.[xi] Â
Girls in Sierra Leone face enormous social pressure to undergo FGM and join the Bondo Society to fulfill expected gendered, social, and cultural expectations. As described in the section above, girls who partake in the Bondo initiation ceremony receive positive attention and attain higher social standing in their communities. However, girls who refuse to undergo FGM and by extension not join the Bondo Society risk social stigmatization. Communities across Sierra Leone view FGM as milestone in female and societal life, as it links a girl to her mother, grandmothers, sisters, and other female friends and relatives in the community, and is portrayed as a way to honor the girl’s cultural heritage.[xii] Furthermore, some Sierra Leoneans believe that removing a girl’s external genitalia will lessen her desire for sex, which will help her maintain her virginity and remain faithful to her husband after marriage.[xiii] Therefore, uninitiated girls are frequently ostracized for rejecting their “natural duties” and face accusations of being ignorant of cultural norms and traditions, as well as being sexually unrestrained.[xiv] In short, the Bondo Society plays a critical role in perpetuating FGM throughout Sierra Leone, and shifting such long-standing cultural values poses a challenge towards ceasing the procedure in the country.
The Impact of FGM on Women in Sierra Leone
Females who undergo FGM in Sierra Leone face short-term and long-term health consequences. Sierra Leonean girls and women who live in poor, rural communities face elevated risks from FGM, as they are often exposed to insufficiently trained soweis who use poorly designed and unsanitary instruments.[xv] In the short-term, virtually all girls and women who have FGM performed on them experience symptoms such as pain, shock, excessive bleeding, difficulty in passing urine, and infections.[xvi] FGM can result in long-term damage to the female reproductive system, as the practice has been linked to complications with pregnancy and childbirth, infertility, and cervical cancer.[xvii] The trauma of FGM also has a psychological dimension, as it has been linked to such conditions as anxiety and lowered self-esteem.[xviii] In a few extreme cases, FGM has directly resulted in death.[xix] From a medical perspective, FGM poses a significant threat to girls and women’s health, as the risks that the procedure presents, coupled with the fact that FGM offers no proven medical benefits, have the very real potential to endanger the overall well-being of girls and women.[xx]Â
In addition to the medical consequences that girls and women suffer from due to FGM, the procedure also contradicts human rights standards that the Sierra Leonean government formally recognizes. Sierra Leone currently lacks a national law that officially prohibits FGM.[xxi] Freetown had previously attempted to implement a ban on FGM: most notably, it banned FGM in 2014 to curb contact and transmission rates during the Ebola virus epidemic, and placed a temporary ban on the practice in the run-up to the 2018-elections.[xxii] However, communities throughout Sierra Leone continued to practice FGM despite the bans, and politicians in Freetown ultimately reversed those measures to secure their popular support bases.[xxiii] Sierra Leone has garnered international criticism for its seemingly weak response towards eradicating FGM, as the practice violates several international agreements that the country has agreed to uphold. Most notably, Sierra Leone is a signatory of the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), the UN Convention on the Right of a Child (CRC), and the Maputo Protocol.[xxiv] CEDAW strives to protect the human rights and dignity of women all over the world, and although the original draft did not specifically condemn FGM, the convention’s Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women has subsequently identified the practice as harmful to females in its General Recommendations.[xxv] Regarding the CRC, Sierra Leone approved the agreement to defend the rights and well-being of children in the country. Anti-FGM advocates argue that FGM breaches the terms of the convention, as children (defined as under 18 years of age) who are subjected to the practice are often forced to make such a profound and life-altering decision without the proper information needed to give meaningful consent.[xxvi] Lastly, the Maputo Protocol, an African Union-issued convention, aims to promote gender equality in its signatory countries.[xxvii] The Maputo Protocol identities FGM as a violation to female human rights and advocates for the establishment of campaigns to inform communities about the risks of the practice.[xxviii] The disconnect between Sierra Leone’s official support for human rights conventions such as CEDAW, CRC, and the Maputo Protocol, and the prevalence of FGM and other harmful practices that Sierra Leonean women are exposed to in their country, highlight the need for greater concerted anti-FGM activism to close the gap more completely between human rights expectations and realities in Sierra Leone.
Solutions for Eradicating FGM in Sierra Leone   Â
A key step towards eradicating FGM in Sierra Leone requires Freetown to take resolute action towards implementing an official ban on the procedure. As previous attempts to ban FGM reveal, such an initiative would be far from a panacea: the governing administration could risk popular backlash for its stance, and FGM could continue in more remote areas of Sierra Leone. Nevertheless, an assertive national ban in Sierra Leone would serve a more symbolic purpose, at it would demonstrate Freetown’s recognition of the severity of FGM, as well as how it would commit to more consistent and concerted measures to formally eradicate the procedure in the country.[xxix]                                             Â
While a national ban would signify Freetown’s intolerance of FGM and its pledge towards ridding the country of the practice, actual progress can only be achieved on a grassroots level. The most promising means for eradicating FGM in Sierra Leone involves establishing mass educational campaigns to openly discuss the negative health effects associated with the practice and dissuade the continuation of it.[xxx] Health professionals and activists representing these initiatives would need to travel extensively throughout Sierra Leone to educate communities on the importance of stopping the procedure. The protocol of the Bondo Society renders FGM as a taboo subject, and therefore most communities find it extremely difficult to openly discuss it.[xxxi] However, educational campaigns could initiate an honest dialogue about FGM. The campaigns could use concrete information about the medical risks associated with FGM, along with personal testimonies from women who underwent the procedure, to educate communities about the negative impacts of the procedure. [xxxii] In turn, having the facts at hand could influence community members to stop performing FGM as a means to protect women’s lives. Another measure that could help secure the success of educational campaigns would be to gain cooperation from community leaders: namely, to gain support from the Bondo Society itself. While many women who decide to become soweis do so out of adherence to the society’s traditions, others choose this path due to limited job opportunities.[xxxiii]To convince soweis to stop carrying out FGM, they need to be provided with alternative job options. If soweis could receive training to gain marketable skills— for example, literacy and/or vocational experience in fields such as computers and IT, cloth making, or agriculture— they would not have to depend on conducting FGM to continue their livelihoods.[xxxiv] In turn, former soweis could become allies in the fight against FGM, as they could use their authority to convince their communities to stop the procedure, as the health risks associated with FGM outweigh the benefits of adhering to tradition and gaining social clout.[xxxv] Despite the controversy surrounding the role of FGM in the Bondo Society, the institution still has the important social function of providing a support network for girls and women in Sierra Leone. Therefore, the use of mass education campaigns and providing soweis with additional livelihoods could serve to shift perspectives towards the procedure and establish new social norms in which women would not have to undergo FGM to be a valued member of their respective communities.                                                                                       Â
Conclusion
The case study of Sierra Leone highlights the complexity of eradicating FGM, as it involves trying to shift deeply set cultural beliefs as to what constitutes female identity in communities throughout the country. It also emphasizes the necessity of using both national and local measures to combat the issue. Freetown needs to stand by an anti-FGM stance, as this would signify its commitment towards ending the practice to the citizens of Sierra Leone. Furthermore, such a policy would signal to the international community that Sierra Leone abides by its responsibilities to uphold human rights. However, real change can only happen in the communities of Sierra Leone, and anti-FGM campaigners can use educational tools to inform people about the risks that FGM presents. In addition, anti-FGM activists do not have to view traditional societal institutions—namely, the Bondo Society— as adversaries. Instead, they can collaborate to redefine what it means to be a woman in Sierra Leone and pursue the greater well-being of the country’s communities. The ultimate goal towards eradicating FGM in Sierra Leone and the rest of the world will be a long and arduous process, but continuing the measures that have been put in place offer optimistic prospects towards ending the practice and improving the lives of millions of women.
Copyright © 2023 Ekstrom. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative [1]Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/bync/4.0/), which permits unrestricted noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction.
References
[i] United Nations Children’s Fund, Sierra Leone: Statistical Profile on Female Genital Mutilation (New York: UNICEF Data Analytics Section- Division of Data, Research, and Policy, 2019), p.2.
[ii] United Nations Children’s Fund, Sierra Leone: Statistical Profile on Female Genital Mutilation (New York: UNICEF Data Analytics Section- Division of Data, Research, and Policy, 2019), p.2.
[iii] CIA World Factbook, “Sierra Leone,” (Dec. 22, 2022), https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/sierra-leone/
[iv] 28 Too Many, Country Profile: FGM in Sierra Leone (London: 28 Too Many, 2014), p.45, 46.
[v] P.S. Yoder and S. Khan, “Numbers of Women Circumcised in Africa: The Production of a Total,” United States Agency for International Development Working Paper (2008), https://dhsprogram.com/pubs/pdf/WP39/WP39.pdf, p.11.
[vi] 28 Too Many (see note 3), p. 19.
[vii] Ibid.
[viii] A.F. Ibrahim, “The Bondo Society as a Political Tool: Examining Cultural Expertise in Sierra Leone from 1961 to 2018,” Laws, MDPI, Open Access Journal 8/ 3 (2019), p.3.
[ix] Ibid.
[x] O.Bjalkander, L.Bangura., B.Leigh, et al., “Health Complications of Female Genital Mutilation in Sierra Leone,” International Journal of Women’s Health 2012/ 4 (2012), p. 324.
[xi] Ibid.
[xii] E.K. Ameyaw, S.Yaya,, A.A. Seidu, et al., “Do Educated Women in Sierra Leone Support Discontinuation of Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting? Evidence from the 2013 Demographic and Health Survey,” Reproductive Health 17/174 (2020). p. 2; Foundation for Women’s Health, Research, and Development. If You Go Into the Bondo Society, They Will Honour and Respect You: Research on Female Genital Mutilation in Freetown, Sierra Leone (London: Foundation for Women’s Health, Research, and Development, 2017), p.10.
[xiii] Ibrahim (see notes 7 and 8), p.2.
[xiv] T.O. Bosire, The Bondo Secret Society: Female Circumcision and the Sierra Leonean State, Ph.D thesis (University of Glasgow, 2012), p. 10; Foundation for Women’s Health, Research, and Development (see note 11), p.10.
[xv] J. Schmerler, “Female Genital Mutilation: A Global Health Perspective,” Yale Global Health Review (May 14, 2017), https://yaleglobalhealthreview.com/2017/05/14/female-genital-mutilation-a-global-health-perspective/
[xvi]Bjalkander et al. (see notes 9 and 10), p.323.
[xvii] Ibid.
[xviii] Ameyaw et al. (see note 11), p. 2.
[xix] E. Batha and N. Peyton, “Sierra Leone Bans FGM in Clampdown on Secret Societies” Reuters (Jan. 26, 2019) https://www.reuters.com/article/us-leone-women-fgm-idUSKCN1PJ1WH
[xx] World Health Organization, “Female genital mutilation,” (Jan. 21, 2022), https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/female-genital-mutilation
[xxi] N. Ali, “Opinion: FGM- from Taboo to Headline News, but What Now?” Thomas Reuters Foundation News (Feb. 6, 2020), https://news.trust.org/item/20200204184052-gevx3/
[xxii] Voice of America, “Seeking Fair Elections, Sierra Leone Bans FGM During Campaign Season,” (Feb.5, 2018), https://www.voanews.com/a/seeking-fair-elections-sierra-leone-bans-fgm-during-campaign-season/4240062.html
[xxiii]J. Horz, “Dissecting the Link between Female Genital Mutilation and Politics in Sierra Leone,” London School of Economics Department of International Development Blog (May 3, 2019), https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/internationaldevelopment/2019/05/03/dissecting-the-link-between-female-genital-mutilation-and-politics-in-sierra-leone/ ; Ibrahim (see notes 7,8, and 12), p. 4-6.
[xxiv] Ibrahim (see notes 7,8,12, and 22), p.9.
[xxv] S.Nabaneh and A.S. Muula, “Female Genital Mutilation/ Cutting in Africa: A Complex Legal and Ethical Landscape,” International Journal of Gynecology & Obstetrics 145 (2019), p.254.
[xxvi] O.Bjalkander, Female Genital Mutilation in Sierra Leone, Ph.D thesis (Karolinska Institutet, 2013), p. 7.
[xxvii] J. Geng, “The Maputo Protocol and the Reconciliation of Gender and Culture in Africa,” in S.H. Rimmer and K. Ogg (eds), Research Handbook on Feminist Engagement with International Law (Northampton, MA, USA: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2019) p.412, 413.
[xxviii] End FGM European Network, “Maputo Protocol,” (July 26, 2016), https://www.endfgm.eu/resources/international/maputo-protocol/
[xxix] Equality Now, “Equality Now And Its Partners Welcome The Call By UN Special Rapporteurs To The Government Of Sierra Leone To Take Action To End Female Genital Mutilation,” (Sept.15, 2022), https://www.equalitynow.org/news_and_insights/un-special-rapporteurs-government-sierra-leone-fgm/
[xxx] L. Bitong, “Fighting Genital Mutilation in Sierra Leone,” Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 83 /‎11 (2005), p. 806, 807.
[xxxi] Foundation for Women’s Health, Research, and Development (see note 11), p. 4.
[xxxii] S.Devi, “FGM in Sierra Leone,” The Lancet 391/10119 (2018), p. 415.
[xxxiii] S. Jones, “Can Sierra Leone’s Female Secret Societies Be Allies in the Fight against Female Genital Mutilation?” Open Democracy (Feb. 26, 2018), https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/5050/sierra-leone-female-secret-societies-allies-fight-against-fgm/
[xxxiv] Bitong (see note 29), p. 806, 807.
[xxxv] K. Kiunguyu, “Sierra Leone’s Steps to End Female Genital Mutilation,” This is Africa (Jan. 22, 2020), https://thisisafrica.me/politics-and-society/sierra-leones-steps-to-end-female-genital-mutilation/
