The debate over Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in The Gambia has increasingly shifted from questions of harm to questions of choice. Supporters of repealing the ban argue that families should be free to decide whether their daughters undergo FGM. But this framing overlooks a fundamental reality: FGM is primarily carried out on children, who are too young to make an informed decision about what is being done to their bodies. While parents routinely make decisions for their children, those decisions are expected to protect a child's health, wellbeing and best interests. Parents do not have the right to consent to practices that cause harm, remove healthy body tissue, or expose children to lifelong physical and psychological consequences.
A child cannot meaningfully consent to FGM, and neither can others consent to such harm on her behalf. Therefore, before we discuss choice, we must first acknowledge that FGM begins with the denial of choice. Only then can we ask a deeper question: what does free and informed consent actually mean in the lived realities of Gambian women and girls?
Consent is not simply about saying "yes"; it is about having the genuine freedom to say "no." Under Gambian law, a child is a person under the age of 18 and therefore lacks the legal capacity to consent. This is particularly significant in the context of FGM, which is overwhelmingly performed on girls during childhood, long before they have the maturity, knowledge or legal capacity to make an informed decision about their own bodies.
As a result, most women who have undergone FGM never had the opportunity to consent to the practice in the first place.
In the absence of a child's consent, the decision is typically made by parents or other family members. However, this raises another important question. To what extent are those decisions themselves shaped by social expectations, family pressure, community norms and fears about how an uncut girl may be perceived? If parents feel compelled to conform to expectations in order to protect their daughter's acceptance, marriage prospects or sense of belonging, then the issue is no longer simply about parental choice. It is also about the social pressures that influence that choice.
Therefore, the question of consent extends beyond age alone. For consent to be meaningful, it must be informed, voluntary and freely given. A person must understand what they are agreeing to, including the potential risks and long-term consequences, and they must be able to make that decision without fear, coercion, pressure or undue influence. Genuine consent assumes that individuals have the autonomy to make decisions about their own bodies free from external pressure. While this principle may appear straightforward in theory, the social realities surrounding women and girls in The Gambia make the question of consent far more complex.
In The Gambia, as seen in most African countries, from the day a girl is born, she grows up within a network of relationships that shape her identity, behaviour, and life choices. Families, elders, religious leaders, peers, and the wider community all play important roles in defining what is expected of her. Respect for elders, obedience to parents, and preserving family honour are values deeply embedded in our society and are rightly celebrated as part of our cultural identity. Yet these same social structures can also make it difficult for girls and women to exercise independent choices when those choices challenge long-held community expectations.
Many decisions in a woman's life are not made in isolation. Expectations surrounding education, marriage, childbearing, dress, and social conduct are often influenced by family and community norms. Even where women are legally recognised as adults, they may remain economically dependent on parents, husbands, or extended family members. Social acceptance often depends on conformity to community expectations.
Within this environment, refusing a deeply rooted cultural practice may carry consequences far beyond the individual decision itself.
A woman may fear disappointing her parents, losing respect within her community, damaging family relationships, affecting her marriage prospects, or being perceived as rejecting her culture or faith. Sometimes the pressure is explicit; often it is silent, conveyed through expectations that have been internalised over many years.
This raises an important question: Can consent truly be free when saying "no" comes at such a high personal, economic and social cost?
The concept of consent cannot be separated from the environment in which decisions are made. A choice made under overwhelming social expectations is fundamentally different from a choice made in complete freedom. People may agree to something not because they genuinely desire it, but because refusing feels impossible because it will bring shame and social stigma upon them and their families.
This is particularly relevant when discussing FGM.
Unlike many personal decisions, FGM is not simply an individual act. It is a social practice maintained through collective expectations. In communities where it is regarded as a marker of respectability, purity, maturity, or acceptance, the decision to undergo the practice is rarely made independently of family and community influence.
Some women may genuinely believe they are choosing the practice. However, it is worth asking how much of that belief has been shaped by years of socialisation. When a girl grows up hearing that undergoing FGM is what makes a woman respectable, marriageable, or accepted, the boundary between personal choice and social conditioning becomes increasingly difficult to recognise.
This does not suggest that Gambian women lack agency or the ability to make decisions. On the contrary, women across our country demonstrate remarkable strength, resilience, and leadership every day. Rather, it acknowledges that agency exists within social systems that can either expand or restrict the range of choices people feel able to make.
Understanding consent therefore requires us to look beyond legal definitions and examine power. Gender inequality is not always expressed through force or violence. It is often reflected in the subtle ways society shapes expectations, rewards conformity, and discourages deviation from accepted norms. These influences can be just as powerful as direct coercion.
Across The Gambia, significant progress has been made in expanding educational opportunities for girls, increasing women's participation in leadership, promoting gender equality, and strengthening awareness of women's rights. These changes have enabled many women to make decisions that previous generations could not. Yet social norms do not change overnight. Expectations around gender roles, family honour, and community acceptance continue to influence the choices available to many women.
This is why discussion about consent must move beyond age alone; reaching adulthood does not automatically remove the pressure created by culture, economic dependence, family relationships, or unequal power dynamics. Freedom to choose is meaningful only when refusing a choice carries no stigma, no threat of rejection, discrimination or exclusion
Ultimately, the conversation about FGM is also a conversation about the kind of society we aspire to build, one where women and girls can make decisions about their bodies free from fear, pressure, or obligation; where cultural identity is preserved without compromising dignity; and where tradition evolves alongside greater respect for individual rights and wellbeing.
The question before us is therefore not whether Gambian women are capable of making decisions. They undoubtedly are; the real question is whether our social environment allows those decisions to be made freely
Until every woman can say "yes" or "no" without shame, or fear of losing her family, her community, her marriage prospects, or her sense of belonging, we must continue to ask whether consent, in its fullest sense, truly exists.
Building a society where consent is genuinely free requires more than laws; it requires transforming the social norms that shape choices, promoting gender within families and communities, empowering girls through education and economic opportunity, and creating an environment where every woman can exercise autonomy without sacrificing her dignity or her place in society.
