Growing up in Mali
As a woman in Mali, I quickly learned that a man has all the power. He controls everything. My name is Koro and I am a woman living here in Mali. I was born in the village of Nampossela to a farmer and his wife. I was the first child in my family and my father was very disappointed that my mother
didn’t have a boy, so I was not accepted as his own. There are many things that because I am a woman I have to go through such as the female genital mutilation at a very young age, the rigorous child births as a teenager, and also the respect that I receive as a woman.
When I was old enough, I got the opportunity to go to school but only for a couple of months. I was then taught by my mother the ways of the household. I was taught the first and foremost important thing, how to be a wife and mother to my future husband and my family. I was taught how to cook, clean, work in the fields, and take care of the children. I took care and was responsible for all my younger siblings while my mother worked in the fields.
When I turned 10, I knew what was ahead of me. All of my friends had already been through the torturing pain so I tried to prepare myself for what was about to happen. When girls are between the ages of 7-10, they undergo FGM (female genital mutilation). This process is the “partial or total removal of the female external genitalia (the fatty tissue over the pubic bone).”(Female Genital Mutilation) This is done in Mali to have girls respect themselves so when they are married off by their family to a man of high class it shows that the man would be the only guy that the girl has been with.
When I turned 16, I was now considered a woman. I was married off by my father to someone I knew nothing about. I was forced to start to have kids right away even though I was still so young. My new husband wanted a boy. Like my father, if I didn’t have a boy then my husband wouldn’t treat the baby as his own. I am very scared about having children even though all of my friends are having children. The outcome isn’t always the best. Some of my friends were left on their own to fend for themselves because they had girls, some of their husbands are hitting them and cheating on them, babies die, and mothers died of complications. According to UNICEF figures, “in a single day 1,200 women in the country become pregnant and of those, 230 will develop complications and 20 will die. Two hundred of the babies will not survive past four weeks because of malnutrition.” (Women Clock Up
Success/Cisse) I talked to the midwife Monique and she said there are some sort of contraception that I could take but if I did take them and keep not getting pregnant, my husband will hit me and that is what I am the most scared of.
In Mali, women are treated as property. We are assigned to what we have to do and who we have to become at a young age and are taught to follow that. If we veer off of that track then we are disowned from our family and frowned upon. We are taught to respect the men in our lives and to do what we are told. We are taught how to cook, clean, and take care of ourselves and families.
Respect and Integrity is one of our Saint Joseph College core values. The young women of Mali have their integrity taken away because their parents have arranged marriages for them when they are so young. Malian women are not treated with respect because they are being forced to do things that they really don’t want to do. These such things are arranged marriages, having children at young ages, having children one after the other, and being forced to obey the rules of their husbands. If these women were informed that they have rights then they would be able to speak their mind and be able to be respected and not have their integrity taken away.
References:
“Mali.” Central Intelligence Agency. Web. 21 September 2011 https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ml.html#top
“Mali protest against Women’s Law.” BBC News. Web. 21 September 2011 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8216568.stm
Cisse, Almahady, (August 13). Health –Mali: Women Clock up Success with Maternal Mortality MDG. Inter Press Service News Agency (IPS) Retrieved from http://ipsnews.net/africa/interna.asp?idnews=25071
“Cutting out a tradition in Mali.” BBC News. Web. 21 September 2011 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/crossing_continents/662565.stm
“Female Genital Mutilation – The Facts.” Web. 21 September 2011 http://www.path.org/files/FGM-The-Facts.htm
Holloway, Kris. Monique and the Mango Rains. Waveland Press, Inc. Long Grove, IL 2007
“Mali: The Position of Women and a Dual Commitment.” The Nordic Africa Institution. Web. 21 September 2011 http://www.nai.uu.se/publications/news/archives/011diallo/
didn’t have a boy, so I was not accepted as his own. There are many things that because I am a woman I have to go through such as the female genital mutilation at a very young age, the rigorous child births as a teenager, and also the respect that I receive as a woman.
When I was old enough, I got the opportunity to go to school but only for a couple of months. I was then taught by my mother the ways of the household. I was taught the first and foremost important thing, how to be a wife and mother to my future husband and my family. I was taught how to cook, clean, work in the fields, and take care of the children. I took care and was responsible for all my younger siblings while my mother worked in the fields.
When I turned 10, I knew what was ahead of me. All of my friends had already been through the torturing pain so I tried to prepare myself for what was about to happen. When girls are between the ages of 7-10, they undergo FGM (female genital mutilation). This process is the “partial or total removal of the female external genitalia (the fatty tissue over the pubic bone).”(Female Genital Mutilation) This is done in Mali to have girls respect themselves so when they are married off by their family to a man of high class it shows that the man would be the only guy that the girl has been with.
When I turned 16, I was now considered a woman. I was married off by my father to someone I knew nothing about. I was forced to start to have kids right away even though I was still so young. My new husband wanted a boy. Like my father, if I didn’t have a boy then my husband wouldn’t treat the baby as his own. I am very scared about having children even though all of my friends are having children. The outcome isn’t always the best. Some of my friends were left on their own to fend for themselves because they had girls, some of their husbands are hitting them and cheating on them, babies die, and mothers died of complications. According to UNICEF figures, “in a single day 1,200 women in the country become pregnant and of those, 230 will develop complications and 20 will die. Two hundred of the babies will not survive past four weeks because of malnutrition.” (Women Clock Up
Success/Cisse) I talked to the midwife Monique and she said there are some sort of contraception that I could take but if I did take them and keep not getting pregnant, my husband will hit me and that is what I am the most scared of.
In Mali, women are treated as property. We are assigned to what we have to do and who we have to become at a young age and are taught to follow that. If we veer off of that track then we are disowned from our family and frowned upon. We are taught to respect the men in our lives and to do what we are told. We are taught how to cook, clean, and take care of ourselves and families.
Respect and Integrity is one of our Saint Joseph College core values. The young women of Mali have their integrity taken away because their parents have arranged marriages for them when they are so young. Malian women are not treated with respect because they are being forced to do things that they really don’t want to do. These such things are arranged marriages, having children at young ages, having children one after the other, and being forced to obey the rules of their husbands. If these women were informed that they have rights then they would be able to speak their mind and be able to be respected and not have their integrity taken away.
References:
“Mali.” Central Intelligence Agency. Web. 21 September 2011 https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ml.html#top
“Mali protest against Women’s Law.” BBC News. Web. 21 September 2011 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8216568.stm
Cisse, Almahady, (August 13). Health –Mali: Women Clock up Success with Maternal Mortality MDG. Inter Press Service News Agency (IPS) Retrieved from http://ipsnews.net/africa/interna.asp?idnews=25071
“Cutting out a tradition in Mali.” BBC News. Web. 21 September 2011 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/crossing_continents/662565.stm
“Female Genital Mutilation – The Facts.” Web. 21 September 2011 http://www.path.org/files/FGM-The-Facts.htm
Holloway, Kris. Monique and the Mango Rains. Waveland Press, Inc. Long Grove, IL 2007
“Mali: The Position of Women and a Dual Commitment.” The Nordic Africa Institution. Web. 21 September 2011 http://www.nai.uu.se/publications/news/archives/011diallo/