News that starts with the people who are normally asked last
S5E1 Female Genital Mutilation: Can we achieve zero tolerance with zero coverage?
This week, we’ve decided to cover a topic that’s hugely underreported in the mainstream media: FGM. Yesterday was FGM Zero Tolerance Day, so you may have seen a (very small) flurry of articles about the topic - but this week's guests say that it needs to be covered all year round.FGM stands for Female Genital Mutilation - the deliberate cutting or removal of a female's external genitalia. It is currently documented in 92 countries around the world, the highest share in Africa - countries including Somalia, Egypt, Mali, Sudan and Ethiopia. It is also found in Asian and Middle Eastern countries, and in diaspora communities in the West.
Over 200 million women globally have been subjected to FGM. This should be a media storm. But instead, there’s near silence. So we've asked FGM survivors why the coverage is lacking, what they need from the media, and what we can do to help.
Joining us is Dr Leyla Hussein, psychotherapist and award-winning international campaigner leading the fight against FGM, and Ifrah Ahmed, Somali-Irish humanitarian worker, activist, and founder of the Ifrah Foundation, a charity with the aim of the absolute abandonment of FGM in Somalia.
The episode is hosted and produced by Mathilda Mallinson (@mathildamall) and Helena Wadia (@helenawadia)
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