Speaking at a press conference on Monday, Dr Isatou Touray said: “Those women at Bokoteh celebrating the festivities marking the end of circumcision rites for young girls were mobilised and organised to do that… But what is important is to allow things to come out spontaneously and let people make their decisions and we are getting that. In all the declarations on dropping of the knife, we have religious scholars, mainly men, leading the process. Now we are in the Kombos, and Bakoteh is a region where we have not done any public declaration yet. Those women can be encouraged because this is something they have been doing, and that is the only thing they saw… and they did not get the information and that is why they have been organised. We all know what the gender politics is all about in this country. So let us allow time and move on. People are educated, they are learning and changing and this change is the surest way for women’s liberation, and it will come.”
Explaining further, Dr Touray said: “We are talking about patriarchal principles of control. Changes are taking place but remember FGM is a deeply rooted culture that people believe and associate wrongfully with our religion, Islam. FGM is not a religious injunction and has no religious justification…
“Gamcotrap is supporting the work of government by complementing what it has committed itself to. We are a women’s rights organisation and we look at what the government has committed towards advancing gender equality, and women development and we support the state to achieve those objectives. We believe there is still a gap and the gap needs to be closed. As NGOs, we have a limit where we can go. We prepare the ground, provide technical support but at the end of the day when you talk about formal equality, it is the state that is supposed to fulfill its obligation to the fullest and highest.”
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