Mariya joins Young Philanthropist Responding to Gender-Based Violence Panel
On February 1st, the Board of Directors for Jane Doe Inc., the Massachusetts statewide coalition against domestic & sexual violence organized their first young philanthropist event that included a panel of changemakers who are organizing against gender-based violence in the greater Boston area and beyond. The conversation took place at WeWork in Boston and included […]
Sahiyo teams up with Feminist Challenge 2K17
During the week of February 6th, Sahiyo connected with Feminist Challenge to create a challenge around the topic of FGC. Feminist Challenge is an online newsletter created to encourage men to approach empathy with women by building their own personal testimonies of awkwardness, inconvenience, and pain. The belief behind this approach is that performance can […]
Khatna among Suleimanis, from the perspective of an ‘outsider’
by Koen Van den BrandeAge: 55Country: India More than ten years ago, in a nikah ceremony in Karachi, I became a Muslim when I married a member of the Suleimani community. I was an ‘outsider’, born in Europe and baptised a Christian, but it was clear from the questions I was asked to answer, in […]
A conversation on Khatna with Suleimani Bohras
Sahiyo co-founder Shaheeda Tavawalla-Kirtane talks to Shabnam Muqbil and her husband, Koen Van den Brande, who give us an introduction to the Suleimanis and throw light on the practice of ‘khatna’ amongst their community. Shaheeda: Please share with us the history of the Suleimanis and where they come from? Shabnam: The Suleimani Bohras (Suleimanis) are a […]
Is there only a little piece of flesh between ‘good’ and ‘bad’, asks a Suleimani Bohra
by Shabnam Muqbil Age: 52 Country: IndiaIt has happened to me too……….When I was 6 years old, I came from abroad to India with my mother to spend a two-month long summer vacation in Badr Bagh, the seat of the Suleimani community in Mumbai, where I was born.We had a lovely little cottage within the […]
Female Genital Cutting exists to preserve patriarchy: A Bohra survivor speaks out
by Mubaraka MotiwalaAge: 18Country: India (This essay was first published on the Safe City blog on January 22, 2017) Female genital mutilation (FGM), also known as female genital cutting and female circumcision, is the ritual removal of some or all of the external female genitalia. Ever wondered why it’s done? Well I did and I found out what […]
Sahiyo blog post wins a Laadli Media Award
A Bohra woman’s personal essay about her experience of Female Genital Cutting, published on Sahiyo’s blog last year, has won the prestigious Laadli Media Award for Gender Sensitivity 2015-16. The essay, titled ‘It was a part of me…part of my womanhood‘, won the award for Best Blog in the ‘Web-blogs’ category in the eighth edition […]
Telling one’s personal Khatna story can lead to another’s not continuing FGM/C too
By Alifya Sulemanji Country: United States In the past few years, we have seen an increase in the awareness of FGM/C in the Dawoodi Bohra community, and it has led to many discussions amongst community members. There is a large number of people who were hesitant about the procedure, and due to a lack of […]
From birth to motherhood, a Singaporean Malay’s experience of Female Genital Cutting
By: Anonymous Country: Singapore Community: Malay Muslim Growing up: I was told as a child, that every girl had to go through it. There is basically NOBODY that you know who hasn’t gone through it. And I BELIEVED everything my mother said. Perceptions Ingrained in our Minds: It is dirty, unhygienic, curbs your sexual desires. […]
81% want Khatna to end: results of Sahiyo’s online survey of Bohra women
On the occasion of International Zero Tolerance Day for Female Genital Cutting, Sahiyo is proud to present the complete findings of the first large-scale, global research study on the subject of Khatna as practiced by Dawoodi Bohras.The report of the study, titled ‘Understanding Female Genital Cutting in the Dawoodi Bohra Community: An Exploratory Survey’, was […]