The politics of female genital surgery in displaced communities

Abstract

International efforts to control female genital surgery (also referred to as female genital mutilation) have mainly targeted countries where the practice is culturally sanctioned. Women in these countries belong to a mainstream culture and are supported by their communities through the process of debate and change. In displaced communities, particularly among migrants and refugees living in Western countries, women from these communities are the visible minority, and the focus and implementation of legislation and health policy addressing female genital surgery risks creating or increasing inequities in access to reproductive health. This paper reviews health policy on female genital surgery in Australia. We relate the frequency of genital cosmetic surgery in the wider population to procedures such as re-infibulation following childbirth, requested by African women; this latter procedure is illegal and currently unavailable in most public hospitals. Data are presented to highlight the effects of these and other political and legal inconsistencies on the reproductive health of women from displaced communities.