Taking a stand against female genital mutilation

According to a Los Angeles Times editorial published yesterday, there is good news regarding attitudes toward the practice of female genital mutilation.

In the past few years, thousands of villages in Senegal, Egypt and Sudan have abandoned this terrible practice, which affects an estimated 2 million women and girls annually.

It is believed that the programs most successful in bringing an end to this practice are: building strong organizations at the village level, offering health and literacy education, and addressing regional poverty – especially in ways that strengthen women's economic positions. In Senegal, an organization called Tostan has pioneered these methods, and 1,993 of the country's 5,000 villages have abandoned the practice. But change is slow.

There is hope that more villages will follow the example set by Tostan and renounce the horrific practice of female genital mutilation.

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