Peer-reviewed article

Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and Women's Rights Violations in Mainland Tanzania

Elizabeth Lukelelwa Simon · 26 Dec 2025

Abstract

Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is the most prevalent cultural practice in various societies around the world. Despite its deep-rooted cultural significance, FGM constitutes a severe violation of human rights, as this paper will demonstrate in the Tanzanian context. This study arises as a result of the grave danger and serious negative consequences of Female Genital Mutilation to women and girls. This study aims to assess the impact of the law on the practice of FGM or female circumcision in Mainland Tanzania. It also assesses how female genital mutilation infringes on the rights of women in Mainland Tanzania. Despite the efforts taken by the government, under the cover of darkness, female circumcision still abounds, and the victims are not only young girls but also women. In societies where marriage for a woman is her only means of survival and where circumcision is a prerequisite to marriage, convincing women to relinquish the practice for themselves or for their children is an exceedingly difficult task. The overriding fear among mothers is that their daughters will be unable to find husbands or to have children and, consequently, will become social outcasts. Marriage provides the exclusive opportunity for women to attain any degree of social acceptance and economic security. This study used a doctrinal and non-doctrinal legal research approach to critically analyse the problem of female circumcision and women’s rights violations in Mainland Tanzania. Under a doctrinal approach, the author analysed the laws, such as the Penal Code, to find out how the law protects women against circumcision in Mainland Tanzania. Additionally, the paper reviewed reports from the Legal and Human Rights Centre (LHRC), such as the Tanzania Human Rights Report of 2023 and the Tanzania Human Rights Report of 2022. Under a non-doctrinal legal approach, various stakeholders such as lawyers, magistrates and doctors were interviewed concerning FGM in Mainland Tanzania.