Global Discourse and the Patriarchal Norms of FGM: Beyond the Zero Tolerance Policy

Abstract

AbstractWhy do people continue FGM? Is the zero tolerance policy effective in abolishing FGM? To answer these questions, this chapter focuses on three topics. 1. Zero tolerance policy in the international community 2. Zero tolerance policy in Kenya, and FGM in the Somali community 3. Ways of abolishing FGM beyond the zero tolerance approach. This chapter shows that the zero tolerance policy and its anti-FGM laws have had a limited effect on changing the patriarchal mindset expecting girls to be cut. It argues that the positive deviance approach appears more effective in this regard, and that, in addition to abolishing patriarchal values, eradicating poverty is crucial to the abolishmentSeeSee\SeeSee“EradicationSeeSee\SeeSee” of FGM.As Nawal El Saadawi claims, FGM is not an ‘unusual and barbaric oppression to which women are exposed only in African or Arab countries’. Importantly, women in both developing and developed countries are ‘victims of cultural and psychological clitoridectomy’ (El Saadawi, in Hidden face of eve: women in the Arab world. Zed Books, London, El Saadawi N (2015) Hidden face of eve: women in the Arab world (3rd ed., trans: Hatata S). Zed Books, London: XLVI–XLVII). This chapter takes the reader beyond the limitations of cultural relativism and the zero tolerance policy in the quest to completely abolish all forms of FGM and the patriarchal norms which underpin it and provide a breeding ground for gender-based violence.