The Circumcision of Women

African women have begun in recent years to research and campaign against the practice of female circumcision. Dr. Koso-Thomas shows that female circumcision is not confined to the Horn of Africa or the Muslim areas of the Continent. Her study of the practice in Sierra Leone demonstrates its important role in the traditional initiations of females into both womanhood and society in parts of West Africa. Perhaps the most important and innovatory contribution she makes here is to set out detailed and practical proposals for a 20-year programme to end what she rightly designates as the crippling of women by this operation. Based on her extensive experience as a general practitioner in Sierra Leone, she has provided a clear and down-to-earth model which could be adopted by other countries where female circumcision is the norm.