Western Feminists and NGOs have also positively contributed to the struggle to end FGM. Western feminists and NGOs were able to put FGM on the international agenda. Through this they were able to get support from Western nations, like the United States and Canada. The United States banned the practice within their country and also tied their foreign aid to eradication efforts (Shannon,2012,300). Having their aid tied to policies of FGM elimination, put pressure on governments to enact legislation banning FGM or risk loosing international support. Additionally, the United States became a safe heaven for any women fleeing FGM. This meant that” fear of FGM for one’s children was sufficient grounds for a woman to seek and receive political asylum”…show more content… In addition, Western feminists and NGOs helped the struggle to end FGM by recasting it as a human rights issue. Western feminists fought to have women’s rights as human right’s and this helped the fight to eradicate FGM. It was during the 1970s that Western feminists and NGOs put forth an argument that there was a relationship between gender equality and human rights (McChesney,2015,10). This lead to the creation of the Convention for the Elimination of Discrimination Against women (CEDAW), which enshrined principles of gender equality within the international human rights regime (McChesney,2015,10). Additionally, by having women’s rights as human rights it eliminated this distinction between the private sphere and the public sphere. It broke down this idea that because of the social contract the sate could not intrude on the private sphere (Bahar,2000,278-279). Issues related to culture, religion and the family were believed to belong to the private sphere and were free from public action (Shannon,2012,287). This meant that many of the atrocities committed against women, like FGM, was considered in the private sphere. By the 1990s FGM was being framed as an issue of
