26 January 2026
https://www.unwomen.org/en/news-stories/feature-story/2026/01/what-it-is...
“When perpetrators are taken to court, that is important,” says Catherine Mootian, a survivor of female genital mutilation (FGM) in Kenya and director of AfyAfrica – an NGO working to end the practice. “But what happens to the girl who was cut? Who supports her healing, her education, her future?”
For millions of women and girls, banning FGM alone is not justice. Justice means the ability to heal, access protection, therapy and social support, and holding perpetrators accountable. Too often, that justice is denied.
Life after female genital mutilation is rarely spoken about. The damage does not end when women and girls are cut. For many survivors, the fight for justice and protection has only just begun.
Photo: Courtesy Catherine Kimaren Mootian/ Godson Mwangi.
Why men’s attitudes matter in ending FGM
In many communities, girls continue to undergo FGM, not because they believe in the practice, but because refusing can mean exclusion from marriage, security, and social belonging. When being “marriageable” depends on being cut, laws alone cannot protect girls, and justice remains out of reach.
This is where men’s attitudes become decisive. Tony Mwebia, director of the Kenya-based Men End FGM organization, says the practice cannot be understood, or dismantled, without confronting men’s expectations directly.
“Men are not just bystanders,” he explains. “They are the ones expected to marry. They negotiate dowry. They decide what is acceptable. If men continue to expect women to be cut, the practice will continue even if it is illegal.”
According to Mwebia, many men oppose FGM in principle but remain silent in practice.
“Young men will say they don’t support FGM, but when it comes to marriage, family pressure takes over. Fathers refuse to give cattle. Elders insist on tradition. Silence becomes compliance.”
Campaigns like Men End FGM confront one of the strongest forces keeping FGM alive: the belief that a woman must be cut to be accepted, respected, and married. By rejecting that expectation publicly, men help dismantle the social pressure that makes the practice feel unavoidable to many young women and girls.
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When men see what really happens, they say it feels like watching a horror movie.
—Tony Mwebia
FGM is banned in many countries, so why are girls still not safe?
Kenya’s ban on FGM has been in place for more than a decade. Yet enforcement remains uneven, particularly in communities where social pressure is high.
“You cannot arrest your way out of FGM,” he adds. “If the social incentives remain, families will find ways around the law – cutting in secret, crossing borders, or pressuring girls to comply.”
Why many girls cannot refuse FGM
In many communities, refusing FGM is not an option.
“When marriage determines a woman’s survival – socially and economically – refusal is not a real option,” says Mwebia. “That is not consent. That is coercion.”
Mootian knows this first hand. She was cut at the age of 12, in Kenya’s Maasai community, despite coming from an educated family – her father was a doctor.
“We were ambushed. We were woken up at three o'clock, men were in our room,” she recalls. “Nothing was explained to us. We were told to shower with cold water. The next thing we realised, they removed the surgery blades. And yes...we were cut.”
The lifelong consequences of FGM
What followed was not a single traumatic moment, but decades of silence, shame, and self-censorship.
“At school, girls would proudly talk about being circumcised – it meant you were considered a woman,” Mootian continues. “But I stayed quiet. I hid. I lived with fear and shame.”
As she grew older, the trauma persisted.
“The event is always fresh in our minds,” she adds. “In university, the first question from men was often about whether you were cut. There were so many myths – like that women who have been cut don’t have feelings, that they are not ‘normal’. I couldn’t talk about it. I carried something I didn’t know how to name.”
Mwebia says this silence is what allows FGM to persist, even where it is illegal.
“There’s an intersection between economic factors and social pressure, and then there’s this whole idea of culture,” Mwebia adds. “Even though young men are more receptive, many still find themselves cornered – feeling like they have no choice but to conform.”
For survivors like Mootian, the effects of that coercion persist long after the cutting itself – physically, emotionally and socially.
“To this day, if I see blood or a surgical blade, my body reacts,” she shudders. “The trauma is still there, under the surface.”
For many women, the consequences resurface at key moments in life, during relationships, pregnancy and childbirth.
“Giving birth became another trauma,” Mootian continues. “Because of the cut, I had to undergo caesarean sections. For many others, it’s miscarriages, being married off young and never returning to school.”
FGM – a public health emergency and human rights violation
What is often missing from conversations about FGM is that survival is not guaranteed.
A 2023 study across 15 countries estimates that a girl dies every 12 minutes because of female genital mutilation. These deaths are linked to immediate and long-term health complications associated with the practice.
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Women and girls attend FGM awareness training in Kenya. Photo courtesy of Tony Mwebia/Men End FGM.
How survivors and men are challenging FGM
Today, Mootian leads AfyAfrica, a local organisation in Narok founded by survivors of FGM. It began with a personal decision.
“The first person I protected was my younger sister,” she says. “I promised myself no other girl from my village would go through what I did.”
AfyAfrica creates safe spaces where survivors can speak, often for the first time.
“It took me 23 years to share my story,” Mootian explains. “Healing started when I realised I was not alone.”
Through peer support, counselling, and community engagement, the organisation works to address harm that laws alone cannot undo. But for most survivors, support is still out of reach.
“In my county, we have three government psychologists and more than 500 survivors,” Mootian explains. “Most women have no access to therapy at all.”
“If justice is to work for women,” Mootian says, “we have to finance the support that allows women to heal. Laws matter, but without sustained funding for counselling, protection and recovery, survivors are left to carry the consequences alone.”
Engaging men has proved critical.
“When men understand what actually happens, that there is no reversal, their attitudes change,” she says. “Some become champions. They speak out. They reject the myths.”
That public rejection matters. It shifts social expectations and creates space for girls to refuse FGM without punishment.
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Photo: Courtesy of Men End FGM
The Gambia: when access to justice is put to the test
In The Gambia, where FGM has been illegal since 2015, the legal protections women and girls rely on – and their access to justice – are now under direct and sustained attack.
In 2024, lawmakers attempted to repeal the country’s ban on FGM, prompting widespread concern among survivors, women’s rights organisations, and international partners. Although parliament ultimately voted to uphold the ban, the effort exposed how fragile legal protections can be, even after years of advocacy and progress. In July 2024, UN Women, alongside partners, welcomed parliament’s decision to uphold the ban, describing it as a critical safeguard for girls’ and women’s rights. The subsequent court challenge, however, has exposed how quickly those safeguards can be placed at risk.
The challenge did not end there. In January 2026, a group of religious leaders and a Gambian MP brought a case before the country’s Supreme Court, seeking to overturn the ban through judicial means, arguing that it violates constitutional and religious rights. The case, reported by The Guardian, is ongoing.
If the ban were overturned, women and girls would lose the legal foundation they rely on to report abuse, seek protection, and hold perpetrators accountable. The message would be clear: the law no longer stands with them. Access to justice would not simply be weakened – it would be actively stripped away at the very moment it is most needed.
The Gambian case is a stark reminder that access to justice does not rest on laws alone, but on the willingness to defend them. When protections are contested or rolled back, it is women and girls who bear the consequences, in their bodies, their futures and their ability to seek justice at all.
Female genital mutilation (FGM) FAQs
Explore our FAQs on FGM for clear answers on its causes, impacts, and pathways to justice for survivors.
Why UN Women is essential in ending FGM
Justice, Mootian argues, must go beyond punishment.
“Yes, the perpetrator may be jailed, but then what?” she says. “If we want justice, we must make sure both sides are catered for. That means psychosocial support, education, and the support women need to heal and achieve their dreams.”
This is where UN Women plays a critical role.
UN Women works with governments to establish and strengthen laws that ban FGM and protect women and girls from the practice. We support women’s organisations providing safe spaces, protection and psychosocial support for survivors and girls at risk. And we apply sustained pressure – nationally, regionally and globally – to ensure that hard-won protections are boosted, not diluted.
