Her Culture Bi-Monthy Magazine August/September 2015 | Page 15

For the past three years, only a select few Nigerian states had officially outlawed the practice and the country as a whole had taken no effective steps to outlaw the practice. UNICEF reports that Nigeria has the highest amount of FGM cases and over a quarter of the circumcised females in the world are from Nigeria. Followers of Nigeria’s two dominant religions, Christianity and Islam, have historically carried out FGM procedures. Practitioners often considered the procedure to be a rite of passage for young girls transitioning into adolescence. Thankfully, the outgoing Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan decided to end his presidency with The Violence Against Persons Act of 2015, which specifically bans further FGM procedures against women, amongst other anti-violence policies. While some women advocates have rejoiced at the passage of this monumental law, many are still afraid that political change will not be enough to eliminate such an ingrained religious and familial custom from Nigerian culture. Until the ban has had time to be implemented and enforced in Nigeria, it will be impossible to judge its effectiveness. If nothing else, the mere passage of the law breaks the taboo that once surrounded the topic of FGM and has already encouraged more people to speak out about the issue. Survivors of FGM procedures have already begun to step up as advocates for this new anti-violence against women movement in Nigeria and to share their stories with the rest of the world. It is crucial that these strong efforts to change the traditional cultural views towards women are made in Nigeria. 15 Laws are only beneficial if they are valued and enforced within a society. In order for the ban on FGM to be truly effective, Nigeria will have to witness a big cultural shift in the way society depicts women. Nigeria is a cultural and political powerhouse in Africa and the nation wields a lot of power and influence over the continent. With Nigeria having set this new precedent for the human rights of women, it is hopeful that other countries will soon follow Nigeria’s lead and also push for bans against FGM.