Miss World Somalia bet recalls suffering from female genital mutilation at age 7

Miss World 2025 bet Zainab Jama from Somalia. Image: screengrab from YouTube/Miss World

Miss World 2025 candidate Zainab Jama from Somalia broke into tears during the “Head-to-Head” challenge, as she narrated her harrowing experience of being forced to undergo female genital mutilation in accordance with “tradition.”

Female genital mutilation, as per the World Health Organization (WHO), includes “procedures that involve partial or total removal of the external female genitalia, or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons.”

During her speech on Wednesday, May 21, Jama recalled growing up as a refugee and fleeing her country due to climate issues and conflicts. After rebuilding her life with her family in the United Kingdom, Jama said she started a mission that brought her to joining the international pageant.

“I’m the founder of the Female Initiative Foundation, a project to bond from one of the darkest moments of my life,” she said. “I stand here today, not just as a voice for the voiceless, but as a survivor of female genital mutilation.”

“I know what it feels like to have your rights taken away, to feel powerless and to be told that your voice doesn’t matter,” she stated, her voice shaking and tears building up in her eyes.

Jama stressed that she is raising awareness about female genital mutilation, regarding it as her “main purpose in the world” to educate more people about the procedure that is being unrightfully done to young girls.

With a strained but firm voice, Jama recalled, “I was seven years old. I was outside, playing with my friends. When I was picked up, my clothes were ripped off, and I was taken to a room where three women waited with blades, scissors and old tools.”

“These women were not doctors, nor were they medically trained—just tradition passed down through generations,” she lamented, narrating how the procedure was done without using anesthesia.

“I remember crying and begging, but the woman told me to be quiet, to be brave and to be proud, as that was part of our tradition,” she continued. “Once the cutting was done, my skin was stitched back together with thick thread, leaving only a tiny part of hole, barely enough for urine or blood to pass through. This process is called infibulation.”

After the excision, Jama said she was kept in a dark room for days, bleeding and with her legs tied tightly together.

“That part, after the procedures, is where a lot of girls die and they don’t make it alive. That moment changed me forever, and my childhood came to an end. I survived, but many of the girls didn’t, and they don’t,” she lamented.

Fighting for the future

Jama noted that aside from her and the women before her who had suffered, her fight is for the little girls who are set to undergo the procedure and are crying for help.

“They were taught that suffering is part of being a woman, and that this is normal. But it’s not normal; it’s not okay, and it’s not part of our destiny,” she stressed. “I know that I cannot change my past, but I can fight for their future.”

“Through my foundation, I bring awareness. I go into communities, and I do public speaking. I teach mothers that love should never—that tradition should never come at the cost of a child’s body or soul. We can honor our traditions without having to harm our little daughters,” she said. 

Concluding her statement, Jama declared that despite the consequences, she will continue her advocacy until there are changes and until the world talks about it.

Julia Morley, CEO of Miss World Organization, stood with Jama on the platform to comfort her, underscoring how the latter’s voice should be heard.

“We’ve heard a voice that needs to be listened to by grandmothers and mothers in your country, and we need to hopefully and carefully and kindly explain to those people in your country that it’s wrong,” Morley said.

“What has been believed in the past—like many, many people have different customs—you have to eventually stop and think that custom is wrong, and there is no shaming being wrong. The shame is not to put it right,” she stressed. “So we will stand together, and we will make it something that we explain to women—not make them feel bad because they believe that was the right thing to do.”

Morley further noted the need to come together to save the young girls in Somalia from torture and cruelty, thanking Jama for her bravery in speaking up about it.

“I never get involved in politics, but this isn’t politics. This is a social denigration, cruelty and totally unacceptable, unnecessary thing to do to any female,” Morley added.

According to WHO, girls between infancy and adolescence are those who mostly suffer from female genital mutilation. The organization added that “more than 230 million girls and women alive today have been subjected to the practice, with more than 4 million girls estimated to be at risk of FGM annually.”

Meanwhile, Jama will be up against the Philippines’ Krishnah Gravidez and 106 more delegates for the Miss World crown on the finals night on May 31.  /ra