Gambian mothers fear for their daughters as court weighs FGM ban
As The Gambia’s Supreme Court prepares to rule on the FGM ban, mothers fear the law could be weakened. Wellingara, The Gambia – As The
As The Gambia’s Supreme Court prepares to rule on the FGM ban, mothers fear the law could be weakened. Wellingara, The Gambia – As The Gambia’s Supreme Court prepares to rule on the country’s ban on female genital mutilation on Wednesday, survivors say the decision could determine whether their daughters remain protected by law or face the same trauma they endured. In Wellingara, girls run barefoot across a sandy compound, their laughter mingling with the afternoon call to prayer. They dart through the yard, full of energy and unaware that a legal battle unfolding in the country’s highest court could shape their future. From beneath a mango tree, Mariama Jabbie watches them closely. Her daughters are six and nine, the same age she was when women from her village took her away to be cut. She remembers little of that day, but nearly three decades later, the pain has never left her. Now 28, Mariama said female genital mutilation (FGM) has shaped every stage of her life. The trauma extended far beyond the procedure itself, following her into adulthood, marriage and motherhood. Today, it has become a constant fear that her daughters could suffer the same fate. That fear intensified late last year when a three-month-old baby died after what authorities said was a clandestine FGM procedure not far from her home in Wellingara, about 15km (9 miles) from the capital, Banjul. “I am always on high alert,” she told Al Jazeera. “I worry that a relative could take my daughters without my knowledge. Over my dead body will any of my daughters go through what I went through.” Living with scars Mariama’s fears are echoed by other mothers who see the upcoming ruling as a test of whether the law can continue to protect girls. Thirty-year-old Binta Jawo, who underwent FGM as a child, is raising a seven-year-old daughter she is determined to shield from the practice. “It was very painful,” she recalls. “I cannot imagine allowing my daughter to go through something I know is harmful when I have the power to protect her.” What worries her most is the possibility that the Supreme Court could weaken one of the few legal safeguards girls currently have.
“The ban has made a difference,” she said. “It has helped reduce the practice, even if it hasn’t stopped it completely.” If the law is weakened, she fears families will once again come under greater pressure to subject girls to FGM. For 37-year-old Sarjo Kambi, that fear became reality in 2023. While she was away on a business trip, her daughter was taken by her paternal grandmother and subjected to FGM without her consent. “It was the most painful day of my life,” she said, her voice breaking. “I still carry that pain every day.” Sarjo said she was cut at the age of six, an experience that affected both her health and her marriage. “I was almost sealed as a result of the cutting,” she said. “On our wedding night, my husband could not penetrate me. That is something I have lived with all my life.” She said she and her husband had agreed that their daughter would never undergo the practice. When she reported what had happened, she felt abandoned. “I went to the police expecting protection,” she said. “But I was told it was a family matter.” “That response devastated me. It still hurts today because it felt like my child did not matter.” Now, as the Supreme Court prepares to rule, she worries that even the limited protection offered by the law could disappear. “If girls are still being cut in secret despite the ban,” she said, “what will happen if that protection disappears altogether?” A law on trial The case before The Gambia’s Supreme Court has become one of the country’s most consequential constitutional challenges, reopening a debate over religion, culture and women’s rights. It follows parliament’s rejection in 2024 of an attempt to repeal the 2015 law banning FGM. The ban criminalised the practice, carrying penalties of up to three years in prison and life imprisonment where it results in death. But enforcement has remained limited, allowing the practice to continue largely in secret. The first convictions under the law came only in 2023, when three women were found guilty of performing FGM on eight girls aged between eight and 10 in the Central River Region.
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