This International Women's Equality Day Sahiyo and Asian Women’s Shelter Launch Nations First Community-Based, Culturally Responsive Hotline to Support Survivors of Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting!
Across the United States, the Centers for Disease Control estimates over half a million women and girls are impacted or at risk of female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C). Yet, few resources exist to support survivors in their journey toward healing and protecting future generations from this practice.
This past year, Sahiyo has collaborated with Asian Women’s Shelter (AWS) to expand AWS’s capacity to support survivors of FGM/C. Sahiyo has provided a number of trainings to AWS staff, volunteers, interpreters, and crisis line counselors on understanding the impact of FGM/C on individuals and families in the United States, supporting survivors and their loved ones, and navigating the landscape of limited resources supporting those affected by FGM/C.
AWS opened in 1988 with an emergency shelter and a 24/7 multilingual crisis line to support survivors and communities to navigate harms, hardships, and healing related to gender-based violence, particularly domestic violence in immigrant and refugee communities. From its beginnings, AWS has operated at and centered the intersection of culture, violence, language, gender, immigration, nationality, sexuality, and more. Since then, AWS has grown and deepened its commitment to preventing and intervening in gender-based violence. AWS is still a grassroots, culturally grounded organization that centers community engagement and holistic, trauma-informed, peer-based empowerment.
The goal of this collaborative project between Sahiyo and AWS is to address gaps in resources for underrepresented populations of survivors in the U.S. in need of support services to reduce the harms of FGM/C. With that in mind, the AWS crisis line will be open to taking calls from FGM/C survivors and impacted communities starting this August 26th, 2022 in honor of Women's Equality Day.
Hotline Operator: San Francisco Asian Women’s Shelter
Number: 1-877-751-0880
Hours of Operation:
Monday - Friday, 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM PST
“Unlike other crisis lines, this crisis line offers survivors and those from impacted communities the opportunity to discuss their questions, concerns, and needs surrounding FGM/C in a judgment-free space without automatically connecting them to law enforcement. The crisis line staff have been thoroughly trained on the physical, mental, and social impacts of FGM/C as well as how to best support survivors in their journey toward healing.” – Mariya Taher, Sahiyo Co-Founder and Executive Director
“AWS respects you, your privacy, your experience, and your choices. If you’re wanting a confidential, language and culturally accessible place to talk with someone about the violence you’re experiencing, witnessing, anticipating, and/or trying to avoid or escape, please call whenever you’re ready. AWS will never share your personal information, and you will be in control of what you choose to share or not share. Culture and violence can interact in a way that can be doubly intimate and devastating. We are here to support you.” - Orchid Pusey, Asian Women’s Shelter Executive Director
To learn more about the project and this new resource for FGM/C survivors, contact Mariya Taher, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
About the Collaborators:
Sahiyo’s mission is to empower Asian and other communities to abandon the practice of FGM/C through education, collaboration, and dialogue based on community involvement. Founded in 2015, Sahiyo aims to enable a culture in which a woman/girl’s body and female sexuality is not feared or suppressed but embraced as normal. Sahiyo has 7-years of experience working with communities to empower people to end FGM/C and support survivors.
Asian Women’s Shelter’s mission is to eliminate domestic violence by promoting the social, economic, and political self-determination of women and all survivors of violence and oppression. AWS was founded in 1988 to address the urgent and unmet needs of survivors of domestic violence and human trafficking, especially those who are limited English proficient immigrant or refugee women, children, LGBTQ+/GNB people, and/or youth.
This project was produced by Sahiyo and Asian Women’s Shelter under 15POVC-21-GG-00988-NONF, awarded by the Office for Victims of Crime, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. The opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this project are those of the contributors and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.