Problem

Female genital mutilation (FGM) is the cutting and total or partial removal of the external genitalia, and takes different forms in different countries. At least 2 million girls every year—6,000 each day—are at risk of suffering FGM. The practice, generally done without anesthetic, may have lifelong health consequences including chronic infection, severe pain during urination, menstruation, sexual intercourse, and childbirth, and psychological trauma. Some deaths occur as a result of bleeding or infection.

The Gift

Your gift will enable Equality Now to produce and distribute Women's Action campaign alerts to approximately 100 members of the Women's Action Network, who voice their opposition to human rights violations against women and girls by contacting government authorities, circulating petitions and raising awareness in their communities. When governments encounter protest from around the world, they know they are being held accountable for these human rights abuses.

The activists you help mobilize to end FGM will, for example, advocate for the enactment of a law against the practice in Mali, where 94% of all girls are subjected to FGM. Their actions support the work of grassroots organizations working within their communities to end FGM.

Your gift helps channel collective outrage into strategic action, and the public pressure generated continues to multiply, resulting in an even greater impact in the struggle to end FGM.