Gambian lawmakers on Monday upheld a 2015 ban on female genital mutilation (FGM), despite pressure from religious traditionalists in the West African country.

Lawmakers rejected a controversial bill, introduced earlier in 2024, that sought to enshrine "female circumcision" as a religious and cultural practice.

Following months of heated debate, legislators ended the bill's chances by rejecting all its clauses and blocking any further vote.

"The Women's (Amendment) Bill 2024, having gone through the consideration stage with all the clauses voted down, is hereby deemed rejected," said Fabakary Tombong Jatta, the speaker of the National Assembly, adding that the legislative process had been "exhausted".

Most women in the Muslim-majority West African country have already undergone FGM, according to the UN.

FGM remains common

In Gambia, three out of four women, aged between 15 to 49 have undergone the procedure, the United Nations estimated.

However, activists say that implementation of the ban has been weak and women have continued to be cut, with only two cases prosecuted.

Even now, "it was widespread and there was public promotion of it," an activist and FGM survivor Absa Samba said. 

"The communal leaders see the abandoning of FGM as the weakening of the paternalistic society and their own power," Conrad Schetter, director of the Bonn International Centre for Conflict Studies, told DW.

FGM can cause UTIs, pains and depression

The long-term medical complications arising from FGM include urinary tract infections, menstrual problems, pain, decreased sexual satisfaction and childbirth-related complications. It can also trigger depression, low self-esteem and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Over 230 million girls and women worldwide have undergone FGM, the latest report by UNICEF revealed. This showed a 15% increase compared to eight years ago.

"Local leaders must understand that abandoning FGM does not mean turning a society upside down. Rather, knowledge about health risks should be made prominent," Schetter told DW.

The procedure involves removing the external female genitalia in part or in full and is mostly carried out on girls younger than five.

The practice is widespread in Africa, Asia and the Middle East.

"In peripheral regions across Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East, there is hardly any help for women. You need to follow this cruel rule or you have to leave your community," Schetter told DW.

Edited by: Alex Berry