Dear JOhn,

She is mightier than female genital mutilation. This is Caroline's* story.

When I was 10 years old my father came to get me from my grandmother’s home. At 4am, I and three other girls were woken by my father who informed us that we were going to be cut because we were now adults and he didn’t want girls who were not cut in his family. It was my father who bought the four razor blades.

We were called one by one

We were called one-by-one according to the age of our mothers. When I was called they made [me] to sit down, one woman held my back, the others held my legs, after I was cut they poured milk on the wound to stop the bleeding, and I was given fresh milk to drink. Afterwards they told me to sleep for a while so the wound would heal. 

I didn’t know about FGM

I didn’t know about FGM before I was cut, I had never heard about it. Nobody explained anything to us. When I came to realize what I had been through, I hated myself, my family and those who had done it to me. 

If I had the chance, I would like my body to be the way it was before I was cut. 

Caroline ran away soon after. Her father had set her up to be married off to an older man. She found her way to Equality Now’s partner, Tasaru Ntomonok Initiative, in Narok, Kenya. There, Caroline was given the opportunity to get the education she wanted. Next year, she’ll sit for her Kenya Certificate of Primary Education Exam. It will change her life. 

I wanted to share Caroline’s story with you because women and girls continue to be mutilated every day—including today. FGM is a human rights violation harming more than 200 million women and girls around the world. 

Equality Now: Stopping FGM by starting with the law

Equality Now advocates for passing laws to end FGM in communities like Caroline’s all over the world. The anti-FGM laws we have helped to put in place are a strong first step, but we have to ensure the laws are properly implemented to eliminate FGM for good. Only when cutters and all those involved in the violation realize that they will be prosecuted for breaking the laws will girls like Caroline be safe. As Caroline says; 

Some people in rural communities still don’t know that it is against the law to cut girls. 

A gift to Equality Now will help support our team of human rights lawyers as they work with our partners to:

1. Negotiate strong anti-FGM laws to prevent the practice
2. Work with the judiciary, media and communities to educate and raise awareness
3. Ensure the law is implemented and upheld by calling out violations
4. Urge the UN to use its resources to meet its commitment to end FGM by 2030 

With your support we’ve come so far. We cannot stop now. From all of us at Equality Now, thank you for standing with us and with Caroline. Women are mightier than misogyny.

In solidarity,

Flavia Mwangovya
Global Lead, End Harmful Practices

*Caroline’s story is anonymous, that is not her real name.