Maryam

egypt_survivors_mariam.jpg

Photo:

Linda Forsell

Maryam (right).

Maryam

It hurts every time I think about it. I was in church when they told me I had to go home. I had already run away from home once before when I realised what was going to happen. But this time I couldn’t get away, they held me down.

Egypt

“It’s better to bring the girls up properly than to put them through that. And now my own mother feels the same way!”

Name: Maryam Saiid
Age: 32

The midwife had a razor. I bled for a whole week afterwards.
I never talked to my mother about what had happened. It was a forbidden topic of conversation.

I still don’t enjoy sex.

I was married for a whole year before I got pregnant. And I still don’t enjoy sex. I don’t feel anything. I don’t know what my husband thinks. We can’t talk about it. I would feel as though he looked down on me. I don’t know what to do.
But my daughter, who is 13, won’t be circumcised. We’re agreed on that, my husband and I. It’s better to bring the girls up properly than to put them through that. And now my own mother feels the same way!

Survivor Egypt Faragallah

Egypt

Maternal deaths: 43 deaths per l00,000 births.

Number of children/woman: 2.97 (estimate for 2011)

Abortion legislation: Abortion is not legal. It is only allowed if the mother’s life is at risk. Very restrictive application.

Law against rape within marriage: No

Violence against women in close relationships: Two women are raped every hour. Only 12 per cent of 2,500 incidents of sexual harassment were reported to the police.

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A woman’s place is between the fist and the oven.

Saying, Sweden