Move to overturn FGM ban in The Gambia leads to the emergence of online echo chambers

As a formidable campaign for the decriminalisation of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in The Gambia gains momentum, a social media analysis of conversations on the subject over a one-year period is showing the emergence of online echo chambers made up of pro and anti-FGM advocates, isolated on X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook. 

After nine years of banning FGM, The Gambia now stands divided as attempts to reverse the law are polarising opinions on social media and the streets of the capital, Banjul. 

About 7 out of every 10 Gambian women and girls between the ages of 15 and 49 have undergone some form of FGM, the 2019-2020 Gambia Demographic and Health Survey has shown; in a country where many believe female circumcision ‘purifies’ girls. 

Not even the likelihood of a three-year jail term for persons found to have breached the law – the Women’s Amendment Act 2015 – could deter some Gambians as the practice is deeply rooted in ethnic, traditional, cultural and religious beliefs. 

Here are some highlights after FactSpace West Africa processed collected data on the subject from Brandwatch and CrowdTangle, social media analytics tools, covering the period from June 1, 2023, to June 17, 2024.

1. Despite 54.2% of Gambians having internet access, just about 400,000 use Facebook (the most popular social media platform ) in a country of over 2.8 million people. This analytical report involved processing over 1,318 Facebook posts (with a total of 143,866 interactions i.e. reactions, comments and shares) and 1,874 X mentions, collected from Brandwatch and CrowdTangle respectively.

 

2. An assessment of conversations on X and Facebook showed the pro and anti-FGM advocates were completely isolated on two different social media platforms where they often encounter information or opinions that reflect and reinforce their own. The anti-FGM activists and Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) were more dominant on X while pro-FGM activists were more active on Facebook.

 

3. Proceedings in the National Assembly (Parliament) about the bill to repeal the law banning FGM continuously triggered social media conversations evidenced by the increased online engagements whenever lawmakers debated the bill.

 

4. The debate has been framed along religious/cultural lines and presented as a clash of values – Western and Gambian values/ “us” vs “them”.

Mobilising Public Support to Reverse  FGM ban

In August 2023, three women were charged and convicted for circumcising eight girls between the ages of four months and one year in the Central River Region in the Gambia.

This was the first time the law banning FGM had been activated in 9 years. The Women’s Amendment Act 2015 (Section 32 (2)) states that anyone who breaches the law will face either three years imprisonment or pay a fine of D50,000 (about US$740), or both.

However, the landmark case has since thrust the anti-FGM law into the spotlight, galvanising religious activists and some parliamentarians to mobilise public support under the guise of upholding “religious purity and safeguard cultural norms and values” to decriminalise FGM in The Gambia. 

Gambia’s longtime dictator, Yahya Jammeh banned FGM in 2015, and according to the then Minister for Information, Sheriff Bojang, in an interview with the BBC: “The President banned the practice in the best interest of young women and girls of The Gambia.”

On March 4, 2024, the Member of Parliament for Foni Kansala, Almameh Gibba, introduced a bill in parliament to repeal the law banning FGM. His move followed earlier calls by the MP for Baddibu Central, Sulayman Saho for the decriminalisation of the practice. 

Gibba and Saho’s moves in the legislature came after a pro-FGM Islamic cleric and former imam at the presidency (State House) under President Jammeh Abdoulie Fatty, paid the fines imposed on the women convicted for circumcising the eight children. According to him, the court verdict violated the rights of women to practice their culture and religion. 

What is FGM – the procedure, types and dangers

FGM comprises all procedures that involve partial or total removal of the external female genitalia, or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons. 

There are four different types of FGM and they include: Clitoridectomy – part or total removal of the clitoris or clitoral hood, Excision – part or total removal of the clitoris and the labia minor, Infibulation – narrowing of the vaginal opening and Type 4 – All other harmful procedures to the female genitalia for any nontherapeutic purpose, including pricking, piercing, incising, scraping, and cauterising of the genital area.

The practice is noted to result in some health complications for women and girls including excessive bleeding, infections, genital tissue inflammation, sexual health problems, childbirth complications, and in some extreme cases, death.

Online/offline campaign for and against FGM 

“The fight against FGM is not an attack on the religion, but rather a stand against a harmful cultural practice that causes immense pain and trauma to women and girls,” Isatou Jaiteh, an FGM survivor told FactSpace West Africa during a protest involving hundreds of women and girls on Monday, March 18, 2024.  

Some Anti-FGM protesters at the gates of the National Assembly

Pro-FGM campaigners and anti-FGM activists had gathered at the gates of the National Assembly, as the legislature read the new bill that seeks to decriminalise FGM for the second time. 

A pro-FGM campaigner who spoke to the media said: “Female circumcision is not a bad practice… The practice is Islamic and religious.”

Some Pro-FGM protesters at the gates of the National Assembly

The tension on the streets of Banjul was no different from the conversations on social media regarding calls for the reversal of the ban on FGM.  

There are about 404,000 active social media users in The Gambia as of the start of 2024, which is equivalent to 14.4 percent of the total population of 2.8 million, according to the online reference library DataReportal. 

FactSpace West Africa monitored conversations about FGM on Facebook and X, using social media analytic tools, Crowdtangle and Brandwatch, to gain more insights about the narratives and actors driving the conversations. 

Facebook is the most popular social media platform in the Gambia with 404,000 users. Using Crowdtangle, FactSpace West Africa processed 143,866 interactions, from 1,318 posts on the subject between June 2023 and June 2024

In the Gambia, X only has 35,700 users as of the start of 2024 and using Brandwatch, FactSpace West Africa collected a total mention of 1,874, from 296 unique authors on the topic “FGM in the Gambia” over the same period. 

A screengrab of total mentions of FGM on Facebook (CrowdTangle)

Further investigations into the actors driving the narratives on both Facebook and X, showed that anti-FGM activists and CSOs were more dominant on X while pro-FGM activists were more active on Facebook.

Using Crowdtangle, FactSpace West Africa discovered several pro-FGM campaigners using Facebook to share their opinions on the subject. 

An interview on the Kerr Fatou show broadcasted live on Facebook, involving Imam Abdoulie Fatty, the former State House Imam and pro-FGM advocate has become a major reference point among social media users in favour of circumcising girls. (the interview was conducted in Mandinka). 

The investigation found several Facebook pages including The Fatu Network with more than 600,000 followers have been used to platform pro-FGM activists or amplify their narratives (here, here, here and here).

Facebook comments have also emerged as a vibrant forum where pro-FGM social media users share their opinions about the ongoing debate and demand respect for their choices. 

The popular narrative among pro-FGM activists on social media is the framing of the debate along religious/cultural lines and presented as a clash of values – Western and Gambian values / “us” vs “them”.

 

A victim of circumcision defends the practice in a comment under a post on Facebook

A closer look at data collected from Crowdtangle shows key periods in the ongoing FGM debate on Facebook – September 2023 and March 2024.

 

The pattern of high social media interaction in the two months as seen on CrowdTangle is also reflected in data collected from BrandWatch in respect of the discourse on X. 

Checks by FactSpace West Africa found that several issues contributed to the spike in social media conversations in March including the proposed repeal of the law banning FGM in the Gambia which caused outrage among advocates on X, while being hailed on Facebook. 

The lawmaker who introduced the bill, Almameh Gibba argued that the bill to repeal the law on FGM seeks to protect the cultural and religious rights of the people, blaming anti-FGM advocates for using wrong terminologies to cause chaos and deception in the minds of the people.

“This Bill seeks to lift the ban on female circumcision in The Gambia, a practice deeply rooted in the ethnic, traditional, cultural, and religious beliefs of the majority of the Gambian people,” he partly stated.

Also, the interview granted to pro-FGM Islamic scholar Imam Abdoulie Fatty on the Kerr Fatou Show on Facebook Live partly contributed to the increase in social media interactions on the subject in March.

Meanwhile, the spike recorded on the Brandwatch and Crowdtangle can also be linked to the vote on March 18, 2024, by Members of Parliament in The Gambia to advance the highly controversial bill that could lift the ban on FGM.

At the end of the second reading, 42 Lawmakers voted to refer the bill to the relevant committees of the National Assembly, while four voted to kill the new bill. 

The bill has since been moved to the health, gender, human rights and other committees to engage with stakeholders for their perspectives before a recommendation is presented at the plenary.

Since the renewed debate about decriminalising FGM in the Gambia started, local and international CSOs, anti-FGM advocates including organisations like the UN, UNFPA, UNDP, UNICEF and Human Rights groups in The Gambia have dedicated efforts to engage the public about the negative impact of the bill.

However, that has also informed a new narrative that suggests these organisations and their local agents are foisting their Western ideals on the Gambian public against their religious and cultural identity (here).  

Sentiment surrounding the bill

On Brandwatch, an assessment of the sentiments and emotions showed the majority of X users sampled for this research were neutral in their commentary on the subject, even though the chart shows many were unhappy (negative) about the attempt to decriminalise FGM as compared to those in favour.

Some X influencers and anti-FGM campaigners created hashtags, like “#fgm220” “Bill” “ban” “#endfgm” “Gambia” among others, to create awareness about the negative impact of FGM on girls/women. 

From the visual above, the keywords around the FGM discourse are captured in terms of their dominance in the posts made on social media. Female Genital Mutilation was the most used along with others like The Gambia, Gambia and women. The main anti-FGM hashtag #endfgm is listed as are the names of some prominent people in the conversation online. For example, exiled president Jammeh who banned FGM in 2015 is listed as lawmakers Fatty and BaldehF.

Testimonies of FGM survivors

Survivors of FGM have since been championing a campaign to eradicate the deeply-rooted practice by sharing their traumatic and horrifying experiences. 

Jaha Dukureh is a Gambian women’s rights activist and a popular anti-female genital mutilation campaigner. 

Dukureh was subjected to FGM in The Gambia when she was a little more than a week old. In an interview with Al Jazeera News, she narrated her experience and what prompted her fight against FGM. 

“I underwent FGM at one week old, so I have no memories of it. It wasn’t until I got married that I fully got to understand the extent of the practice. I went through the most severe form, which is type 3 FGM; this is when women and girls are infibulated and have to be de-infibulated before any form of penetrative sex can occur. Because I know what it feels like to live with FGM, I can advocate better for the millions of girls like me who have to live with the practice, and do everything I possibly can to make sure that this number doesn’t get any bigger,” she said. 

A woman in her late 20s, who preferred to remain anonymous, shared her painful experience as a victim of FGM and the difficulty she faced in her marriage in an interview with Factspace West Africa.

“I was not only cut but sealed too. My family believe so much in FGM, that they would go to the extent of sealing a girl after cutting her to protect the family’s dignity. My nightmare started on my wedding night, my husband could not penetrate me even after trying several times, because I was sealed. 

“I was rushed to a neighbouring village in the middle of the night to meet a ‘Nyansiba’ (local FGM practitioner) to de-infibulate me. She used a sharp blade to deeply cut me up. I could not stand on my feet or even walk properly. Honestly, that pain was the worst I have ever experienced. 

“With all of that pain, I was not allowed to rest, instead, I was taken back to my husband for him to try his way in again.  The ‘Nyasimba’ advised me to have intercourse with my husband for a week, otherwise, I might ‘close up’ again. For the seventh night of continuous sex, I did not feel any pleasure, it was all pain, bleeding and tears, this almost made me hate my husband,” she recounted.

Some of these victims are now advocating and raising awareness about the scary effects FGM has on the lives of women and girls. 

Conclusion

The Gambia could become the first to overturn a ban on FGM, as the country confronts a conflict between religion/tradition and public health.  

Anti-FGM activists are fighting an uphill task convincing majority of Gambians who are entrenched in this long-standing cultural norm and it is worse if online discussions take place in echo chambers Echo chambers.

By: FactSpace West Africa