Nice Leng’ete, a Maasai woman in Kenya, first ran from the cut when she was eight years old. Where most viewed the removal of the clitoris as a cultural rite of passage, Leng’ete viewed the process as a threat and refused to undergo the ritual. In Maasai culture, female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) was part of becoming a woman and was ingrained in over a thousand years of tradition. An uncircumcised girl like Leng’ete could not be married, was seen as dirty, and experienced family shame within the community. However, when other girls in Leng’ete’s village admired her school uniform, she saw an opportunity for change. Leng’ete tried to convince the girls to avoid the cut, so they—like her—could also go to school longer and marry, as well as have children, later in life. Unfortunately, the younger men assisting the elders wanted to beat her for also convincing other girls to go against societal norms.
Not to be deterred, Leng’ete changed her tactics after the elders sent her to a conference on adolescent and sexual health. Leveraging this opportunity, she persuaded the elders to let her speak to the young men in her village about health. While it took some time for the young men to listen to her—as women did not usually address men in the community—they eventually began to ask questions about HIV, avoiding teen pregnancy, and then the cut. After convincing the young men in her village, she finally won over the elders in her village. Her campaign spread to nearby villages, eventually earning her the right to speak to the elders’ council—the highest level of Maasai power—at the foot of Mount Kilimanjaro. She became the first woman in history to address the elders there. In 2014, the elders changed the Maasai constitution to formally abandon FGM/C, and adopted new rites of passage for Maasai girls.
“It’s just the cut that’s wrong,” Leng’ete said in an interview. “All the other things – the blessings, putting on traditional clothes, dancing, all that – that’s beautiful.”
In her seven years of advocacy, Leng’ete has helped more than 15,000 girls avoid FGM/C. To learn more about the status of FGM/C worldwide, explore these country profiles from the United Nations Children’s Fund.