Harmful Traditional Practices – JSS3 Social Studies Lesson Note (First Term)

Harmful traditional practices are customs that cause physical and psychological distress and damage to individuals.

Behavioural objectives

By the end of the lesson, students should be able to:

1. Define harmful traditional practices and list their types.
2. Explain female genital mutilation (FGM) and state the reasons given for it.
3. State the health implications of FGM.
4. Describe the consequences of harmful traditional practices.
5. List ways of preventing harmful traditional practices.

What are harmful traditional practices?

Harmful traditional practices are customs handed down in a community that hurt the body, mind or rights of a person.

• Distress caused: fear, emotional pain, stigma and death.
• Who is mostly affected: women and girls, though some practices also affect boys and men.
• Why they continue: people follow them because “it is our custom”, even when they cause harm.

What are the types of harmful traditional practices?

There are six common types in Nigeria: female circumcision, slavery, child marriage, widowhood practices, preference for a male child and violence against women.

Female circumcision

• Meaning: another name for female genital mutilation (FGM).
• What happens: sensitive female genital organs are painfully cut away.
• Age: often performed on infants.
• Belief behind it: it stops girls from being promiscuous.

Slavery

• Meaning: a state of being subjected to hardship, suffering and violence.
• Main feature: the person has no right to resist or fight back in any form.

Child marriage

• Meaning: giving out female children in marriage while they are still in their teenage years.
• Effect: the girl is not yet physically or emotionally ready for marriage.

Widowhood practices

• Meaning: the maltreatment of women whose husbands have died.
• Drinking bath water: some cultures force the widow to drink the water used in bathing the dead husband.
• No bath: some widows cannot bathe until their husbands are buried.
• Confinement: in some societies, widows cannot leave the house for a certain period.
• Black dresses: some widows must wear black for certain days or for a year.

Preference for a male child

• Meaning: valuing sons above daughters.
• Effect on mothers: a woman with only female children may not be recognised or respected.
• Treatment: she may suffer insults, embarrassment, scolding and maltreatment from her husband and his family until she has a male child.

Violence against women

• Meaning: beating or hurting women, especially wives.
• Methods: canes, horsewhips, rods or slaps.
• Excuses given: coming home late, not cooking on time or not caring for the children.
• Truth: none of these excuses justifies beating a person.

What is female genital mutilation?

Female genital mutilation (FGM) is the removal or cutting off of some or all of the external sensitive genital parts of a girl or woman.

• “Female genital”: the female outer or external sex organs.
• “Mutilation”: damaging or changing something so much that it is spoiled or ruined.
• Parts commonly affected: the clitoris, labia minora and labia majora.
• Purpose claimed: to reduce the girl’s sexual urge.
• Other name: female circumcision.
• Present situation: campaigns, advocacy and education have reduced the practice, and efforts continue towards ending it completely.

Why is female genital mutilation practised?

People give five main reasons for FGM, and none of them is correct.

1. Control of sexual urge: some believe cutting a part of a girl reduces her sexual sensitivity and promiscuity.
2. Safe delivery: some believe the baby will die or become disabled if the mother’s genitals touch its head during birth.
3. Hygiene: some believe it makes it easier for a woman to wash and clean her genitals.
4. Spiritual purity: some believe the practice makes a girl spiritually pure.
5. Ritual and ceremony: in some communities, a girl must undergo it to attend the matured-girls traditional ceremony before marriage.

• Verdict: science shows that the practice is unpleasant, cruel and dangerous.

What are the health implications of female genital mutilation?

FGM has no health benefit, because it damages healthy and normal female genital tissue and its natural functions.

1. Depression and loss of sexual desire: the girl may later seek divorce or never wish to marry.
2. Spread of infection: unsterilised instruments carry germs from one girl to another.
3. Bleeding: it may be minor or severe and can lead to shock and death from loss of blood.
4. Difficulty in passing urine: the severe pain makes urinating hard.
5. Urinary and reproductive tract infections: germs enter the wounded area.

What are the consequences of harmful traditional practices?

The consequences are the harmful results that follow these practices, for the individual and for society.

1. Death: some practices cause pain and injury that may lead to death.
2. Sexual disorder: FGM may cause serious relationship problems when the girl or lady is married.
3. Spread of HIV/AIDS: FGM done with an infected knife or blade can pass on HIV.
4. Emotional pain: widows forced to drink the water used in bathing the dead husband, or to sleep in the same room with his body, suffer deeply.
5. Retarded development: child marriage denies a girl the chance to develop physically, emotionally and psychologically.
6. Infringement of human rights: most of these practices affect women more than men and violate their rights, including health and reproductive rights.

How can harmful traditional practices be prevented?

There are five main ways to prevent harmful traditional practices: public enlightenment, legislation, the school curriculum, non-governmental organisations and the media.

• Public enlightenment: teaching families, chiefs and community leaders about the dangers through town meetings, markets and places of worship.
• Legislation: making laws that forbid harmful practices and punish offenders.
• School curriculum: teaching the dangers in subjects such as Social Studies so that young people grow up informed.
• Non-governmental organisations (NGOs): groups that run campaigns, support victims and educate communities.
• The media: radio, television, newspapers and social media spread messages against harmful practices.

Evaluation

1. What are harmful traditional practices?
2. List the six types of harmful traditional practices.
3. State three reasons given for the practice of female genital mutilation.
4. Mention three health implications of female genital mutilation.
5. List the preventive measures against harmful traditional practices.

Assignment

Describe two harmful practices that affect widows in some Nigerian communities, then explain three consequences of harmful traditional practices.