Gambia’s Move to Repeal Female Genital Mutilation Ban Risks Women’s Rights Globally

At eight years old, Fatou Baldeh was told she would be attending a party at her uncle’s house to celebrate girls in her local community in The Gambia. Excited, she picked out a new outfit and braided her hair for the special occasion. “But that excitement suddenly changed,” she recalls decades later, “when we were all put in a line and blindfolded.” 

With her eyes covered, Baldeh could only hear the sound of girls being taken to a bathroom nearby before shrieks of agony filled the room.