OBV pays to tribute to Efua Dorkenoo

Although it is a month today since Efua Dorkenoo passed away, we at OBV would nevertheless like to remember her.

A prominent human rights activist and researcher, Ms. Dorkenoo passed away on October 18th at the age of 65. She was best known for her work in combating female genital mutation, or FGM.

Born in Ghana, Ms. Dorkenoo immigrated to London at the age of 17 and became a nurse. Eventually she earned a master’s degree at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. After encountering the practice of FGM first-hand while studying to become a midwife, she published one of the first reports on the procedure in 1980. This helped her to secure funding to start the Foundation for Women’s Health, Research, and Development (FORWARD) in 1983 to promote the health of women and girls who had experienced cutting and work towards eliminating the practice.

She continued campaigning throughout the 1980s, and from 1995 to 2001 she worked at the World Health Organization as acting director for women’s health.

In more recent years she served as Advocacy Director of the FGM programme at the human rights organization Equality Now, which in 2000 had awarded her, along with Gloria Steinem, its international human rights award for her lifelong campaigning and advocacy. She also recently started The Girl Generation, an African-based group that aims to end FGM, which launched a week before she died.

An honorary Senior Research Fellow at the School of Health Sciences at City University, London and an inductee into the Order of the British Empire, Ms. Dorkenoo will be remembered as an exceptional woman who worked tirelessly to achieve her goals – and who made a real impact.

Last year, the United Nations General Assembly voted unanimously to recognize FGM as a human rights violation. This year, Britain prosecuted it as a crime for the first time – both objectives of Ms. Dorkenoo’s campaigns, and both ultimately as a result of her efforts.

Remembered as a “force” and as a “powerhouse of wisdom” by the BBC, the woman known as “Mama Efua” to those close to her did inspiring work, and will be much missed.

Ruth Hirsch