The practice of female genital mutilation (FGM) constitutes a violation of human rights and a form of gender-based violence that affects thousands of girls and women worldwide. In this sense, the Cfairmagazine vol.12 (9) published an interesting article written by Meritxell Díaz Forés, entitled “Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and the role of parents in practice”, which addresses the issue of the possible prevention or promotion of FGM by parents regarding their daughters, as well as in the case of immigrant parents with daughters born in Spain.

The article focuses on understanding why some mothers consider FGM to be the best option for their daughters, and what cultural or traditional background leads to this practice. To achieve this, various sources of information have been used to establish a high level of awareness among mothers, although it has not been possible to contact fathers. The author emphasizes the importance of sensitizing and giving voice to real cases of the practice to welcome the diverse experiences of all involved women and make the need to talk about FGM a central issue to avoid constituting the practice as a taboo.

Moreover, the article highlights the importance of community involvement and women’s fight as key elements in the prevention of FGM. It also notes that the entry of immigrant women from countries where FGM is a traditional practice to countries like Spain, where it is not, facilitates access to new information and the opening of new beliefs and ways of seeing.

However, the lack of scientific and bibliographic information about immigrant women who have suffered FGM in Spain, and the divergence of various intercultural factors, constitute an obstacle in the study’s development. Therefore, it is necessary to investigate more abundantly the involvement of parents in FGM in their countries of origin and in Spain.

In summary, the article represents a call to awareness and the fight against the practice of FGM, a form of gender-based violence that affects girls and women worldwide. We invite you to read the entire article as well as the other articles included in the Cfairmagazine vol.12 (9) to learn more about this and other topics of interest.

The link to access the magazine is Revista-Cfairmagazine-vol.12.pdf