Show Notes
This special three-part series brings The Story of Woman podcast on location in Kenya to explore female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C). Host Anna Stoecklein partners with Kenyan journalist Evelyn Wambui and international NGO Orchid Project, traveling to rural Maasai villages and urban Nairobi to delve into the hearts and minds of community leaders, activists, and survivors, bringing you the human stories behind the headlines and statistics.
This powerful first episode explores how this millennia-old practice affects 230 million women and girls worldwide through intimate conversations with survivors from two distinct Kenyan communities with dramatically different experiences – the Maasai showing promising progress and the Somali community where challenges persist.
Through firsthand accounts of physical trauma, educational barriers, and remarkable resilience, the episode reveals both the devastating impacts of FGM/C and the extraordinary women leading the movement to bring it to an end.
Content Warning
This series includes discussions of female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C), including personal accounts of physical and emotional trauma. These stories may be distressing or triggering for some listeners. Please take care while listening.
Topics Covered
Beyond the headlines: Survivors share personal stories and lifelong impacts
An ancient practice: FGM/C’s 2,000-year history across 94+ countries
A tale of two communities: Why one Kenyan community is progressing while another resists change
Breaking misconceptions: Why FGM/C isn't simply a "women's issue" but affects entire communities and economies
The limits of law: Why Kenya’s anti-FGM/C legislation isn’t enough
Women leading change: How survivors turn trauma into powerful advocacy
The untapped potential: What’s lost when girls are cut, married young, and denied opportunity
Some names have been changed to protect the identities of individuals featured in this episode.
Featured Voices
Survivors & Activists
Fariha: survivor turned activist from the Somali community
Christine: survivor turned activist from the Maasai community
Anne/"Mama Kijiji": the only female elder in her Maasai community, working to end FGM/C for 20 years
Saitoti: Maasai community leader using music to advocate against FGM/C
Experts
Sean Callaghan (Orchid Project): Head of Research and Capacity Strengthening
Kirigo Njenga (Orchid Project): Advocacy Officer
Evelyn Wambui: Field producer and translator for this series
Partner Organizations
Orchid Project: International NGO working at the forefront of the global movement to create a world free from FGM/C.
COVAW (Coalition on Violence Against Women): National non-profit women’s rights organization responding to the silence of the Kenyan society in addressing Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG).
Brighter Society Initiative: Local Kenya NGO that works to empower the society beyond violence.
Transcription is available here
Support the Movement:
This series was created in partnership with Orchid Project, an international NGO working to end FGM/C globally. If you'd like to become part of the movement to end FGM/C and support the vital work that Orchid Project is doing, please consider making a donation. No matter how small, your contribution will help to create a future where women and girls live free from FGM/C.
👉 Donate here
—
Questions, comments, ideas?
We’d love to hear from you - [email protected]
—
Follow us: Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | Tik Tok | Youtube | LinkedIn
Become a Patron for bonus content and to support the podcast, or buy me a (metaphorical) coffee
If you’ve enjoyed this episode, please share, subscribe, and rate and review on Apple, Spotify or wherever you listen to your podcasts.
www.thestoryofwomanpodcast.com
—
Music credit:
“Ethereal Relaxation” Kevin MacLeod
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/
More from The Story of Woman
In this final episode of the Kenya series, host Anna Stoecklein explores what it will take to not just end female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C), but to shift the underlying social norms that drive it. The episode examines the complex journey toward cultural transformation, revealing how community dialogue, intergenerational conversations, and collective action are crucial for lasting change.
In the second episode of this three-part series on female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) in Kenya, host Anna Stoecklein and Kenyan journalist Evelyn Wambui explore the complex reasons why this practice persists despite its known harmful effects. The episode delves into the cultural, religious, and social forces that perpetuate FGM/C and the challenges faced by those who choose to break away from tradition.
This special three-part series brings The Story of Woman podcast on location in Kenya to explore the deeply rooted and urgent issue of female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C).
REPLAY OF SEASON TWO EPISODE ONE In the first episode of season two of the podcast, I speak with former US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Cherie Blair, CBE KC in their first-time ever, exclusive joint podcast interview! Hillary Clinton and Cherie Blair have pioneered positive change for women for decades. They have worked as lawyers, politicians, activists, and business leaders - and also both had husbands in charge of governments, the US and the UK respectively. In this episode, they share what they have learned over the years: the current state of women’s equality, the ripple effect of change that happens when you put power back into the hands of women, and ways to overcome the deeply ingrained economic, social and legal barriers that hold women — and the world — back. They also discuss their long friendship and what it’s like being a female leader in a male-dominated world!
This is an episode of The Great British Foreign Affairs Podcast, featuring host Anna Stoecklein as a guest host alongside Anna-Joy Rickard. Together they talk about feminist foreign policy with Kristina Lunz, the author of ‘The Future of Foreign Policy is Feminist’ and Co-founder and Director of the Centre for Feminist Foreign Policy in Berlin. The episode dives deep into feminist foreign policy, tracing its origins and exploring its profound implications for the world today and the future. The Great British Foreign Affairs Podcast Original episode