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- Title
The German Movement Against Female Genital Mutilation and Four Jewish Foremothers.
- Authors
von Gleichen, Tobe Levin
- Abstract
In Germany, Dr. Marion Hulverscheidt credits four Jewish women with mothering the movement against female genital mutilation: Dr. Herta Haas (1907–2007), Fran Hosken (1920–2006), Hanny Lightfoot-Klein (1927–) and myself, Tobe Levin (1948–). Hitler forced the first three to flee Europe; I, born postwar, chose to live in Germany as a scholar of the Holocaust period and activist against FGM. Since 1977, when a movement against excision arose in Germany, I have seen Jewish women worldwide playing a significant role. This article explores possible reasons why. Although conclusions remain elusive, I wish to draw attention to a Jewish advocacy that has not yet been the subject of academic inquiry. When asked why they tenaciously confront a monstrous wrong and human rights violation that maims an estimated 200,000,000 women worldwide, these four women's answers are similar and seemingly derived from Jewish ethics: the belief that what we do can improve the world and spare little girls lasting pain.
- Subjects
FEMALE genital mutilation; JEWISH women; HUMAN rights violations; JEWISH ethics; HOSKEN, Fran; LIGHTFOOT-Klein, Hanny; LEVIN, Tobe
- Publication
Nashim: A Journal of Jewish Women's Studies & Gender Issues, 2019, Issue 34, p168
- ISSN
0793-8934
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.2979/nashim.34.1.08