There can be few women who understand both the agonies and the economics of female genital mutilation better than Margaret, a grandmother in her 70s from Pokot, northern Kenya.

Her life has spanned the clumsy colonial efforts to ban the practice, which saw it become a cultural cornerstone of the Mau Mau uprising against British rule, right through to independent Kenya’s decision to reimpose the prohibition.

She has also put more girls than she can remember under the knife. When Margaret started, the tool of choice was a curved nail; more recently this has been replaced with imported razor blades.

The work, she concedes, is gruelling: frightened young girls would typically sit naked on a rock; once done, their excised clitorises would be thrown to the birds. For the cutters, or “koko mekong”, who can earn 2,500 Kenyan shillings (£18) for each girl, it is a livelihood.

“The cutters ask me: ‘If we leave doing this thing, what will we eat?'” Margaret says. “Tell the government to give us what to eat. If it’s just workshops then it will be no use. The circumcisers will not leave their career simply because they’re being told to leave it.”

The “cut” has been outlawed in Kenya since 2001. Despite this, a public health survey in 2009 found that 27% of women had been subject to FGM. Among some ethnic groups – such as the Somalis (98%) and Masai (73%) – that figure is much higher.

A second set of laws passed in 2011 made it illegal to promote or to facilitate what used to be known as female circumcision, and stiffened penalties. But changing the law was easier than changing practice.

Among communities such as the Endorois, who live near the picturesque Lake Bogoria, the cutting season has endured. But the ban has driven it underground, according to Elijah Kipteroi, the government-appointed chief of nearby Loboi, a role he describes as part policeman, part doctor, with a dash of marriage counsellor thrown in.

“In the old days there were preparations that you could see,” Kipteroi said. “Now, because of the law, the practice is carried on in hiding. It’s happening without ceremonies.”

The laws are still seen as foreign by many Endorois, especially the male elders, says the chief. They accuse him of criminalising their culture.

Underpinning the practice is a sharply divergent vision of the roles of sons and daughters. In Kenya, a dowry is paid by the groom’s family. As a result, girls are seen as a valuable asset to their families, if they can be offered for marriage in the “right” condition.

“The daughters are seen as cattle to be sold,” said Kipteroi, who added that a bride price would be typically counted in livestock, worth perhaps as much as 30 cows. “No one will even negotiate a bride price for uncut girls.”

On the surface, communities in places such as Loboi are broadly supportive of traditions such as FGM. Uncut girls, sometimes referred to as “raw” as opposed to mutilated “ripe” women, can expect to be shunned by their neighbours. They are forced to walk for miles to fetch water so they don’t “contaminate” pumps and wells; local midwives even refuse to deliver their “unclean” babies.

Reuben Orgut, a wiry man in his 60s with a sprinkling of silver stubble, one of the elders in Sandai, is unapologetic about FGM and the economics behind it.

“When I get this dowry it’s a way to support the other siblings. It means that when my sons also marry I have something to give out.”

He says the girls who refuse to be cut and married off are “stealing” from their own families. “It is not fair since they are a source of wealth. Some who have not been circumcised leave the family without us getting the bride wealth.”

Read More

More than 110 cases of female genital mutilation have been recorded in Bristol last year. North Bristol NHS Trust reported 117 women, who used its hospitals during 2013, were found to have already had the operation.

Experts fear the real number of women at risk of FGM living in Bristol who have had the horrific operation, where the clitoris is either removed or narrowed by stitches, is around 2,000.

Layla Ismail, of Whitehall, has been a long-standing campaigner against the practice.

The 39-year-old was born in Somalia, where FGM was common practice for girls.

Her younger sister was rushed into hospital after having the procedure with a worrying night where they were unsure if she would pull through.

The mother-of-five moved to Bristol in 1995 to be with her husband who was studying at the University of Bristol and said information about FGM was non-existent back then.

She said: “The doctors never told me anything about it, it wasn’t something the community would talk about,” said Mrs Ismail, who now works as a community worker for Forward to educate people about the practice.

“I run groups where people can support each other.

“It helps to have people around they can discuss ideas with.

“It is not a religious act; how can something that harms people be religious?

“We are told we are not allowed tattoos because it damages the body but then people practise this.”

Her group not only offers support for women but also engages with men and religious leaders.

Despite there being cases of FGM in Bristol it is understood most girls are taken back to their country of origin for the operation, which is normally performed by people’s local doctors or nurses.

To date Avon and Somerset Police have made no arrests for FGM.

Assistant mayor for public health Barbara Janke said: “Much progress has been made in Bristol and around the world to change perceptions about this practice in communities where girls and women are at risk.

“The majority of victims are girls aged under 10, who cannot speak up for themselves.”

Thursday is the international day for Zero Tolerance to FGM and to mark the occasion a range of activities will be taking place in Bristol.

Police officers in London have arrested two people over the genital mutilation of a baby girl, it has been reported.

The alleged criminals live in Britain and the baby is believed to have been mutilated at five to six weeks old – believed to be the youngest case reported.

Female genital mutilation involves the cutting or removal of female sexual tissue and has been illegal in the UK since 1985.

However, because a culture of secrecy surrounds the procedure, no one in the UK has ever been prosecuted for the crime, but officers hope this case could lead to the first.

Police have submitted a file to prosecutors but doubts remain because, although the little girl is now a British national, it is not known if she was at the time.

Despite the high number of cases – 80 so far this year – nobody has yet been prosecuted for the practice.

Last month the Crown Prosecution Service said it is studying five case files passed on by the Metropolitan Police.

Read More