Efua Dorkenoo

Lore & Background

Efua Dorkenoo was born on 6 September 1949 in Cape Coast, Ghana, where she attended Wesley Girls' High School. She moved to London at age 19 to study nursing, later earning a master's degree at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and a research fellowship at City University London. While training as a midwife, she became aware of the impact of FGM on women's lives.

She joined the Minority Rights Group and traveled to various parts of Africa to gather information for one of the earliest reports published on FGM in 1980. In 1983 she founded the Foundation for Women's Health, Research and Development (FORWARD), a British NGO that supports women who have experienced FGM and works to eliminate the practice. She began working with the World Health Organization in 1995 and was acting director for women’s health there until 2001. She later served as Advocacy Director and Senior FGM Advisor for Equality Now.

Dorkenoo was close friends with Alice Walker, advising on and appearing in the documentary film Warrior Marks (1993), and with Gloria Steinem, who wrote an introduction to Dorkenoo's 1994 book Cutting the Rose: Female Genital Mutilation. She died of cancer in London at age 65 on 18 October 2014, survived by her husband Freddie Green, her sons Kobina and Ebow, and her stepchildren.

Reader's Guide

Efua Dorkenoo's significance lies in her role as a pioneer who transformed female genital mutilation from a largely unrecognized issue into a key concern for governments worldwide. Over more than three decades, she combined grassroots activism, research, and policy work to build the global movement against FGM. Her founding of FORWARD in 1983 provided a dedicated organization to support affected women and advocate for change. Her work with the World Health Organization and Equality Now brought the issue to international health and human rights agendas. Her 1994 book Cutting the Rose was recognized in 2002 as one of Africa's 100 Best Books of the 20th Century, cementing her intellectual contribution. Dorkenoo's legacy endures through the organizations she helped build and the heightened global awareness of FGM as a human rights violation.

Did You Know?

• She was affectionately known as 'Mama Efua'.
• She founded FORWARD in 1983, a British NGO supporting women who have experienced FGM.
• Her book Cutting the Rose: Female Genital Mutilation is a landmark work on the subject.
• She was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1994.