Every year, millions of girls are subjected to practices that harm them physically and emotionally, with the full knowledge and consent of their families, friends and communities.
Such practices result in acute and often irreversible harm but may be accepted as normal, even beneficial.
In many cases, they embed disempowerment and inequality at the very start of life—in the body and traumatized mind of an infant or adolescent girl. Into adulthood and throughout her life, they may deny her prospects to get an education, give birth safely, make a decent livelihood or speak up for her rights.