The FGM decision-making process
Both men and women support the notion that there are distinctly different parental roles in the sequence of decision leading to the practice of female circumcision. Typically, the mother takes primary initial responsibility for encouraging her daughter to be circumcised:
“Your mother would always tell you that your colleagues are going to get circumcised, so you should join them. After you had gone, she would then tell your father, and he would get ready with a fowl and millet to pay the practitioner.”
– Mirigu woman, aged 35-49, single union
Thus, the father or compound heads play a role in the initial decision to undergo FGM and are sometimes asked to permit the circumcision, but the father’s actions are undertaken in response to decisions taken by women. Once a man is asked to sanction FGM, he consults with the soothsayer, and when the consultation is completed, the father or compound head informs the girl’s mother of the outcome of the consultation. Thus, while men do not initiate FGM decisions, their concurrence is essential. As one woman noted:
“…if the man did not support, her daughter could not be circumcised. If your father did not give his consent, you could not be circumcised…”
- Paga Bagtua, woman, aged 25-35, single union
Circumcision is performed in the post harvest season. In the months preceding the harvest, women consult with their peers in neighboring compounds to discuss plans for undergoing circumcision for girls in the community who are considered ready for the procedure. After a decision is reached to proceed with circumcision, girls are informed that circumcision rites will be performed. Respondents in all FGD panels of this study denied that any form of compulsion was employed. Instead, they stressed the view that girls are asked to decide on whether or not to undergo the procedure. It is nonetheless clear from this study that personal agency in a girl’s FGM decision-making is more an illusion than reality. Instead, powerful social pressure is exercised by key players: mothers, mother-in-laws, compound heads and their wives, fathers, husbands, co-wives, peers and birth attendants.
Once a group of girls have been identified the parents and community leaders extend an invitation for a local excisor to circumcise their daughters. Other families from neighboring towns and villages who hear about the arrival of the excisor may also ask that their daughters join the group of girls undergoing the circumcision. Both the mother and the father give the excisor different forms of payment. Payment may range from cash to goods. The mother is usually responsible for providing cloth, calabash, shea nuts, while the father provides cash, fowls or millet.
“….she provided fibre threads [cloth], calabashes and shea-nuts. The man only gives a fowl….”
- Paga Bagtu woman, aged 25-35, single union
“When I have my daughter, I make her get circumcised and all the fines are mine to pay. I will have to give some fowls, guinea fowls, and millet.”
-Chiana-Katiu man, aged 35-49
The Role of Men
Husbands and fathers each have specific roles to play in female circumcision. Focus group discussions indicated that fathers rarely exert pressure on their daughters to be circumcised. The role of husbands is even less pronounced than the father’s role. Nonetheless, men play a significant role in the decision-making system.
Fatherly duties It is evident from the FGD data that men are not instigators in the circumcision of their daughters. Fathers grant permission for their daughters to undergo circumcision, but seldom encourage their daughters to undergo circumcision. When a girl is very young, her father consults with a soothsayer to determine whether or not his daughter should be circumcised. In the animist traditions of the Kassena and Nankana, women are believed to be the property of a lineage and lineal gods are the guiding spirit of all individuals. Women are not allowed to consult with soothsayers. However, men often seek spiritual guidance in religious séances. A soothsayer is a spiritual leader who performs traditional rites that are believed to establish communication with ancestral spirits. In this course of consultation, a girl may be exempted from the practice if the soothsayer consultation reveals that she belongs to a god who does not want her to be circumcised. When eligible girls are old enough for circumcision, fathers pay fees to the circumciser:
“Men do not insist at all but it is the mothers.”
–Natugnia woman, aged 35-49, polygamous union
“If there is pressure on the girls to get circumcised then I feel it is the mothers because men do not really care about the practice”.
– Pungu man, aged 26-24
Some women reported that fathers had to be consulted before the act, though in some cases, circumcision took place without the father knowing about it. In such cases, fathers are asked to pay fees afterwards. A compound head or family head may also be responsible for the circumcision fees for girls in his compound.
“It is the compound head who gives the millet and fowls to be given to the circumcisor…”
-- Nayagnia man, aged 35-49
“Sometimes the compound heads do not even know that the girls have gone for the circumcision. It is when they are asked to pay some fees that they get to know about it.” –Chiana-Katiu men, aged 35-49
Marriage of Daughters It is the responsibility of fathers to arrange the marriage of daughters. In the tradition of the Kassena-Nankana, a man seeking a husband for his daughter will approach fathers of young men to discuss marriage and bridewealth. In the past, circumcision status was an important prerequisite to marriage. However, this has changed:
“[Before]…it is only when the girl is circumcised that she can get married but now the men are impatient and do not wait for all the customs [FGM] to be done” – Pungu man, aged 26-34
Once a girl has been circumcised, either before or after marriage, her father is eligible to receive a full bride wealth payment.
“In the past when an uncircumcised woman got married, her parents could not
claim her dowry. So if she wanted to get married then she had to get circumcised.”
--Chiana Katiu woman, aged 26-34
A father of an uncircumcised girl may have no right to bride wealth payments. Still, if a dowry is given to an uncircumcised girl, her brothers may benefit from the bride wealth while her parents do not. Since the bridewealth payments are obligatory if a bride is circumcised, economic incentives derived from bridewealth undoubtedly influence the beliefs and motives of the father and other men in the family.
Nonetheless, the economic role of FGM in bridewealth appears to be eroding, as suggested by the focus group discussions. It is apparent that circumcision status is less of a determining factor in the payment of bride wealth fees now that it has been in the past.
The risks posed to the man’s extended family by wife’s sexual desires Men voiced strong opinions about the relationship between FGM and female sexuality. Men often noted that circumcision was a social necessity in the past because wife’s sexual desires were a threat to harmony in the extended family.
“What I know is, our grandparents could travel for long without returning, by the time they are back, their wives would have had contact with other men. So it was done to reduce the sexual anxiety in women”
– Nayagnia man, aged 35-49
Such beliefs and FGM values may be grounded in African customs of polygamous marriage and family building that is associated with weak emotional bonds between spouses and an element of spousal mistrust [40-42]. FGM is perceived by men as a mechanism that is needed to control sexual desires or urges (nyane) in women, thereby inhibiting sexual rivalry among co-wives. This is because once a woman’s interest in sexual pleasure and ability to enjoy sex is decreased, she is likely to be unfazed by the sexuality of her co-wives. In keeping with this perspective, some men stated that they wanted their wives to be circumcised to prevent sexual liaisons between their wives and other men:
“I will like my wife to go through circumcision. There is the belief that when she is not circumcised, she has ‘nyane’ (sexual urge), sometimes in her that makes her want to sleep with other men.”
-- Gomongo adolescent male, aged 20-24
Men thus see women’s sexual urges as dangerous and destructive to the extended family. So extreme are sentiments about this danger that some men believe that unbridled sexual passion can even kill plants. For example, an uncircumcised woman’s nyane can cause calabash plants to wither and die:
“I have seen it with my naked eyes before (uncircumcised woman crossing a calabash plant and harming it). This is because since she is not circumcised, she is still a child and she has a lot of nyane in her, which destroys things.”
-- Gomongo adolescent male, aged 20-24
Several discussions nonetheless revealed that this traditional view of the dangers of sexuality has shifted. Although some FGD participants believe that female sexuality is dangerous more participants believed that intercourse with uncircumcised women would be more enjoyable and exciting than intercourse with a circumcised woman.
“Some men want the two for variety, but the old type needed the circumcised ones because they were the traditionally obedient ones. Today, no man would go for a circumcised woman, because they feel they are not as exciting as the uncircumcised ones.”
-- Nayagnia man, aged 35-49
Women and adolescent girls also stated men now preferred uncircumcised women:
“Most men prefer uncircumcised women especially when it comes to sexual intercourse. They claim uncircumcised women are better in bed as compared to circumcised women.”
-- Mayoro adolescent woman, aged 20-24
The husband’s contribution Some men express the view that circumcised brides are more wholesome and more likely to be a virgin, particularly if the girl had no objection to undergoing FGM:
“If she refuses[to undergo circumcision], the father will say that she is not a virgin that is why she has refused to be circumcised.”.
Gomongo adolescent boy, aged 20-24
Most men stated that they did not care if a wife was uncircumcised or not. In many cases, men do not know if their bride has been circumcised.
“When a man is going to marry a woman, who will know whether the woman is circumcised or not?”
– Janania man, aged 50+
Women, concur with the notion that men do not really care about FGM:
“…the men do not care because they are not insulted [if their wife is uncircumcised]. What he needs is the vagina, and the clitoris does not block his interest, so he does not mind whether his wife is circumcised or not.”
-- Gongnia middle-aged man (age unknown)
While pressure may arise from the husband’s household, the husband himself may not have a direct influence on his wife’s circumcision status, even after marriage.
“It is because of the insults. It isn’t your husband who will insult you. It is your co-wives and your husband’s mother [who will do so]. If you are staying with only your husband, there won’t be any problem.”
-- Gyanania woman, aged 35-49, polygamous union
Discussions thus suggest that for men, the various factors that explained their support for FGM in the past have changed in present times. While men appear to embrace the notion that a circumcised woman is valued for her fidelity this cultural perspective is increasingly offset by males’ preference for uncircumcised women.
In the Kassena-Nankana tradition, the relationship between FGM and girl’s chastity enhances the circumcised woman’s ability to find a husband. However, in present times, the weak significance of FGM for husbands has diluted the relationship between FGM and marriage. As many men admit their indifference towards marrying an uncircumcised or circumcised woman; and, an increasing number of younger men preferring to marry uncircumcised women, a husband should no longer expect to pay a high bride price for his bride based on her circumcision status. As discussed earlier this will in turn affect the economic incentives for the girl’s father who no longer can expect a high bride wealth for his circumcised daughter.
“…formally if you went courting and the lady wasn’t circumcised she would be told to do it now. When she is finally circumcised she would be made to choose from amongst the contestants (boyfriends), but today the men just go and take the girls away without doing the customary rites, so that is why you find men with uncircumcised wives.”
-- Pungu men, aged 26-34
In summary, the role of men in sustaining FGM is important, but remote and eroding in the causal system. Chiefs exercise a role in deciding on the legitimacy of village activities. If an excisor visits a village for the purpose of performing circumcisions, he is obligated by custom to visit the chief. A council of chiefs and elders cannot ban the practice of FGM, but they can diminish access to excisors, alerting community members to the risks associated FGM, requiring parental travel and costs that would not otherwise arise. And they can affect the climate of opinion about FGM through comments at community gatherings. Male leaders are rarely proponents of FGM, however, men in general have a minor role in sustaining the practice. Economic incentives that are implicitly derived from bridewealth are being weakened by changes in male values and marriage preferences. As a consequence, most men in this FGD study were open to the idea of change.
The Role of Women
Maternal care Women view their role in fostering the circumcision of their daughters as a part of their responsibility as good mothers. Therefore, mothers try as much as possible to ensure that their daughter gets circumcised so that a mother will retain a respectable status among the women in the community. A mother who arranges the circumcision of her daughter has fulfilled her responsibilities as a good mother. The practice is associated with womanhood and the readiness for marriage. Traditionally, as aforementioned, young girls learned specific skills during the circumcision ceremony. However, even in modern times, many women subscribe to the normative value of circumcision in the belief that a girl will be considered a woman only after circumcision. Therefore, a woman wants her daughter to be circumcised so that she is thought of as a responsible mother who has raised her daughters properly.
“To be precise it is the mothers who push their daughters to circumcise because if your daughter is not circumcised, the mother would be seen in the village as an irresponsible mother. So if a mother does all that is necessary for a daughter without circumcision, she has failed in bringing up her daughter well… Mothers who witness their daughters being circumcised, are made proud and respected for the good upbringing of their daughters.”
-- Gongnia woman, middle aged
In polygamous households, tensions can arise if one woman has not circumcised her daughters while her co-wives have circumcised her daughters. Therefore, when a woman arranges the circumcision of her daughter, she also eludes ridicule from the co-wives and her children.
“Mothers can force their daughters to be circumcised just because her rivals [meaning: co-wives] are insulting her and her daughters.”
-- Gomongo adolescent boys, aged 20-25
Maintaining mother to daughter traditions. Women point out that if the mother had undergone circumcision, daughters should also expect to undergo the practice. Since circumcision has existed for generations respondents did not see any reason why girls today should not be circumcised if their mothers and grandmothers were able to endure the practice. Elderly women consistently support the practice. This is illustrated by the following statement:
“In the past, we were circumcised, but today we have been told that we should not circumcise our daughters. To me, I think the practice is good. Our grandmothers have all been circumcised, so why should it be stopped now?”
-- Chana-Kayoro woman, aged 50+
“I think it [FGM] should be continued. I have no clitoris so why is it that my daughter should not be circumcised? My daughter will be circumcised.”
-- Minigu woman, aged 50+
The younger women held the contrasting view that, from their experience, there are health risks associated with the procedure.
I have undergone FGM, but I will not advice any girl to undergo it following the rumours we hear these days. Today, it is death, tomorrow, it is loss of blood and so on. --Mayoro adolescent female 20-24 years
Moreover, participants noted that parents who compel daughters to undergo FGM are liable for arrest if law enforcement officers are aware of this action:
I think that policemen should be brought here to arrest practitioners and parents who want to force their daughters into FGM. Natugnia adolescent female 20-24
If most girls are educated, they could explain to their fathers about the law banning circumcision and this would make them afraid of going to jail. So no girls will be forced to undergo FGM. Mayoro adolescent female 20-24
Maternal funeral rites. Many women feel it is especially important to circumcise their first-born girls because a first-born girl plays an important role in her mother’s funeral rites. Among the Kassena-Nankana, daughters carry their deceased mother’s personal effects in the funeral procession. Her personal effects will include the piligo, which is a pot that a woman keeps as a safe for all her valuable and emergency items. Only circumcised girls are allowed to participate in her mother’s burial. For this reason, mothers often insist that her first-born daughter is circumcised for to be buried without a daughter’s participation would bring shame on the family. As one woman stated, her mother insisted on having her circumcised so that her that her own funeral rites will be proper:
“I got circumcised because my mother wanted me to take an active part in her funeral preparation when she dies.”
-- Natugnia woman, aged 35-49, polygamous union
But, once the eldest daughter is circumcised a woman will not be so concerned about arranging the circumcision of her other daughters.
“The mother also sees it as very necessary for her first daughter to undergo FGM. She will not be much worried if only her first daughter undergoes FGM, leaving the younger ones.”
– Mayoro adolescent woman, aged 20-24
In contrast, male groups discuss the significance of undergoing circumcision, not in respect to parental burial rites but for rather for the girl’s own burial and ultimately, her role in the after life:
“Another tradition is that, when the woman dies uncircumcised, she would be
sent off without household accessories like, calabashes and pots.”
-- Paga male, aged 50+
“It is believed that when a woman dies uncircumcised, she would be buried like a man, to prevent that they circumcise, that is what I have also heard.”
–Nayagnia male, aged 35-49
Marital life. In the parental home, kin, parents, or peers can exert pronounced social pressure on a girl to undergo circumcision. Once a woman is married, however, the FGM opinion leaders in her father’s compound cease to have any influence whatsoever. Instead, the women of the husband’s home often have an even greater influence on the decision to undergo circumcision than her parents had during her adolescence. As the following statements suggest, the pressure to undergo circumcision can be unbearable for a young woman who has yet to have children.
“Maybe the pressure at her parent’s home to get circumcised was not very great. But in the husband’s home, the mother-in-law and co-wives would not take it easy, they will insult her thus pushing her to get circumcised.”
-- Natugnia woman, aged 35-49, polygamous union
“It is always from your mother-in-law and co-wives. They will insult you in such a way that even if you think you will die when you do it, you will still do it.”
– Gyanania woman, aged 35-49, polygamous union
About one-third of marriages in the Kassena-Nankana district are polygamous and many women in monogamous unions anticipate the eventual onset of polygyny. Women are particularly sensitive to pressure from co-wives to undergo circumcision, which often takes the form of circumcised co-wives flaunting their status and openly insulting uncircumcised women in their compound. This can create a tension in the household, which an uncircumcised woman feels she can mitigate by undergoing the procedure. She may seek to undergo FGM even if she has married a husband who harbors no particular interest in her circumcision status:
“Look! My friends, co-wives can force you to circumcise...I have seen co-wives being mishandled because they are not circumcised. So the impact is felt more from the co-wives.”
-- Natugnia woman, aged 35-49, polygamous union
Within the husband’s house, an uncircumcised woman living among the circumcised is not even considered a woman. Any slight provocation will incite many insults referring to her circumcision status. This limits her ability to assert her role in the husband’s house and challenge her rights as a married woman.
“Rivals [a term connoting dysfunctional co-wife relationships] see their uncircumcised colleagues as not being women and at the least provocation she insults her ‘Momte giee’ [translation: protruding clitoris]… Rivals would also not give you any rest but would always be insulting you. In fact, there are times that a newly married woman cannot go to the backyard garden because there is that belief that when she crosses a calabash plant it would die or it would not bear fruits just because she is not circumcised.”
– Gongnia woman, 35-49
In general, it should be noted that the pressure is particularly difficult to fend off when a junior wife is living with co-wives. A married woman’s decision to undergo circumcision is viewed by discussants as not a practice done under duress, but is a decision women take in response to peer pressure from co-wives or the wife of the compound head:
“I feel the impact to circumcise is greater from the peer group. If you are married, [pressure is from]your fellow wives. If you are a girl, your colleagues. The rest can complain [about FGM to you] but they cannot force you.”
—Natugnia woman, aged 35-49, polygamous union
In most households, a married woman can expect to live and spend considerable time with her mother-in-law. A mother-in-law who values circumcision is likely to ostracize an uncircumcised daughter-in-law. A mother who is circumcised usually wants her son to marry a woman who is circumcised in the belief that she will be a good, upstanding wife for her son.
“The mother-in-laws would not leave you alone, they keep attributing every bad thing in the compound to you having a clitoris. So by all means to become free of those blames, you simply [get] circumcised.”
-- Natugnia woman, aged 35-49, polygamous union
“It is the husband’s mother who brings about the whole problem. When she insults you and you cannot endure it you will have to get circumcised.”
– Mirigu woman, aged 50+
Thus, an uncircumcised woman can face daunting social pressure from other married women. Older women, and most particularly wives of compound heads, exert a profound influence on FGM decision-making among all women in the compound. During childbirth, birth attendants are commonly the older women in the house. Older women who assist in delivery often attribute problems associated with delivery to not undergoing circumcision and sometimes spread rumors about the circumcision status of young mothers:
“Some circumcise after marriage because when she is in labor, the attendants
say they saw a piece of wood and not a child. Some will also say they saw two
children. Thus, out of anger, she could undergo circumcision.”
– Gomongo adolescent male, aged 20-24
“You can not tell from their faces, but when she becomes pregnant and is in
abor, those who would attend to her would know and through that everybody
in the village would get to know.”
– Gongnia woman, 35-49
Peer support for FGM. Women of all ages expressed the view that circumcision is prerequisite for peer social acceptance in extended households. This sentiment becomes manifest in household discussion of circumcision as a mark of womanhood. An uncircumcised woman is alienated among women inside or outside the home, and made to feel that it is imperative that she becomes circumcised to be socially accepted. If she is not circumcised, she can expect to be socially maligned by her peer group. Among the Kassena-Nankana, girls are encouraged to eschew individualism and honor corporate familial values and group participation. Being excluded from a peer group is particularly feared, since adolescent girls have little autonomy and social interaction in highly valued. Adult women were consistent in expressing the view that peer pressure to undergoing circumcision was intense, mainly because circumcision is necessary for preventing familial discord:
“Living with circumcised women is very unpleasant, every where they go your name will be mentioned as one of the women who have not been circumcised. Mockery will be very common and you can never feel free conversing with them because you would be seen as a social outcast. That is why every woman was advised to circumcise, in order to be able to join the women fraternity.”
-- Natugnia woman, aged 35-49, polygamous union
“It is true, when you are an uncircumcised woman in a group of circumcised women, you will never feel comfortable, because they keep looking down upon you. You had to get circumcised to be part of the group.”
-- Chana Katiu woman, aged 25-34
Expressions of pressure to undergo circumcision after marriage, however, are sometimes less a matter of antagonism than a form of sisterly social support. “Friendly advice” maybe extended to young women by peers, a mother in law, or co-wives who warn young women about the ostracism that an uncircumcised woman will face in the future. The following statements express this view:
“When you are sick, your husband’s mother is concerned and tries to make
you feel well. In the same way when you are uncircumcised, your husband’s
mother gets you circumcised so that you can move and speak freely with
members of the household.”
-- Chana-Kayoro woman, aged 50+
“Sometimes, too, when other people keep insulting you, good co-wives may
advise you to get circumcised.”
-- Chana Katiu woman, aged 25-34
The role of peers and colleagues appears to have the greatest a influence immediately prior to marriage; and co-wives have the greatest influence immediately following marriage. Peers and colleagues may influence a girl to the extent that a girl will undergo circumcision without her parent’s encouragement or active support. Young respondents elaborated on this peer pressure to undergo circumcision.
“Sometimes the girls themselves might demand to be circumcised. This could generate from the fact that their colleagues are circumcised and thus tease them when they are together.”
-- Gomongo adolescent boys, aged 20-24
“It could also be your colleagues. They can mock at you and that will compel you to go in for FGM since you will not like to be a laughing stock and branded as weak…They refer to you as a man and call you ‘long clitoris’. This annoys you and gives you the urge to go and get circumcised.”
– Mayoro adolescent girls, aged 20-24
While it is apparent that FGM is not a practice that is undertaken by overt force, it is abundantly clear that adolescent girls face daunting social pressure from mothers, other adult women in the extended family and peers. The actors in the FGM decision-making system change when a young woman marries, and her autonomy on this issue typically diminishes further. A young woman “acquired” through family exchanges has little status in her new household and must demonstrate devotion not only to her husband, but also to his complex extended family. Given the FGM-supportive social structures that young women must operate in, it is little wonder that the practice has remained pervasive. Although circumstances under which circumcision occurs vary all over African countries, the concept of force merits some clarification in this context.
Social forces that impinge on a young woman’s FGM motives are complex, robust and pronounced. In general, women have a more active role in sustaining various roles in the practice of FGM than men. As mothers, daughters, peers, and co-wives, women are socially invested in the continuation of the FGM practice. A mother who influences her daughter to undergo circumcision avoids ridicule of herself and her daughter and insures that her own funeral rites will be performed correctly. Similarly, peers and co-wives also avoid this derisive behavior by encouraging a woman to undergo circumcision. Once a woman undergoes circumcision, she has the right and capability to negotiate her role in her community of women and an element of dignity in her extended family that she would otherwise lack.