23. Fatou Baldeh
Gambia
“Growing up, I was raised within a society where there were certain social norms, practices and expectations for boys and girls and for men and women,” Baldeh, who is from Gambia, began her toast. “These were unquestionable.” One such norm, she said, was female genital mutilation (FGM).
At just 8 years old, Baldeh underwent FGM. But it was not until she was at university in the U.K. studying reproductive health that she learned about the adverse impacts of FGM on womens’ health.
Baldeh has since advocated against FGM as founder and CEO of Women in Liberation & Leadership. “One of the greatest lessons I learned through this journey was that the cutting of girls was about power and control. Because in my reflections, I realised that when you pin a little girl on the floor and cut the most intimate part of her body and then tell her never to speak about what happened, then you are sending her a strong signal that her body does not belong to her, and she should not speak about violence or assaults,” Baldeh said.
Baldeh’s fight is not just about ending FGM, she added. It’s “about challenging the deeply entrenched attitudes and beliefs that perpetuate gender inequality.” Baldeh received a standing ovation from the audience as she dedicated her toast to the “strength and resilience of countless women and girls who have endured unimaginable pain and suffering.”
