In August 2026, a campaign promoting female genital mutilation in Mali reignited the debate on violence associated with female genital mutilation. “In Mali, yes to female genital mutilation” or “Together, let’s protect female genital mutilation in Mali”: these were some of the messages featured on visuals shared on social media.
This shocking campaign, which amounts to promoting and normalising violence from a bygone era, triggered a wave of outrage. Far from being trivial, this practice is one of the factors driving many girls to leave their communities and seek refuge in other regions. Some even go so far as to abandon their country to escape this form of violence.
Indeed, every year, in Africa and throughout the world, millions of women and girls leave their families to avoid multiple dangers including domestic violence, genital mutilation, forced marriage or discrimination that deprives them of their most basic rights. This reality, often overshadowed by economic narratives of migration, is nevertheless one of the most powerful and least known factors behind women’s desire to migrate.
Fleeing gender-based violence
According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), more than 60 million forcibly displaced or stateless women and girls are currently at high risk of gender-based violence worldwide. In certain displacement settings, this risk is reportedly 20 per cent higher than that faced by non-displaced women. The UN agency also highlights a worrying rise in reports of conflict-related sexual violence, with women and girls accounting for almost all recorded cases. However, these figures represent only a glimpse of the reality: limited access to justice, fear of reprisals and social exclusion discourage many victims from coming forward.
Beyond conflict situations, there are also structural inequalities that compel women into exile. UN Women points out that restricted access to decent work, resources or legal protection directly influences many women’s decision to leave their country. Climate crises and conflicts, which disproportionately affect women, further reinforce this movement in search of safety elsewhere. Once on the move, vulnerability does not disappear: the organisation notes that around 13 per cent of migrant women work as domestic workers, and that 81 per cent are in informal jobs, without any social or legal protection – a situation that is prone to exploitation.
Forced marriages and female genital mutilation: social constraints to run away from
Social norms imposed on women are another major factor driving migration. The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) ranks early forced marriage and female genital mutilation amongst the harmful traditional practices that tend to intensify during periods of humanitarian crisis. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, for its part, stresses that such marriages are a violation of fundamental rights namely self-determination, freedom, physical integrity and access to education. For some young women, fleeing is the only way out in the face of family and community pressures, which are often compounded by physical or psychological violence.
Women’s vulnerability does not disappear at the border. According to UN Women, violence occurs at every stage of the migratory journey: the journey itself, crossing borders, settling in the country of destination, and sometimes the return to the country of origin. Even more troubling is the fact that women returning home after having suffered violence abroad are sometimes stigmatised: the UN body cites testimonies from Ethiopia and Bangladesh, where some survivors have been labelled ‘failed migrants’ or accused of having ‘dishonoured’ their families, thereby further isolating them.
It must be acknowledged that, just like male migration, women’s migration is not always a matter of choice. It is sometimes the only option in the face of violence that the family, the community or the State have failed to prevent or stop. But how long can this situation last?
