ABSTRACT
The tension in Burkinabe prisons exists as well in French ones, where researchers have identified both the constraints and the secondary benefits for women prisoners – better access to training, the vegetable garden, and food – all of which refer back to the social function assigned to women. In 2015, women accounted for only 3% of the 7,620 prisoners that made up Burkina Faso's total carceral population. Studies and Sector Statistics, compared to 3.4% across the continent and 6.9% worldwide. The events that resulted in these women's imprisonment are part of a larger history of the fight against FGM in Burkina Faso. MACZ is one of 26 prisons in Burkina Faso. Imprisonment and FGM concern two different normative orders tradition and criminal law but they both contribute to the gendered construction of women in Burkina Faso. The context of these women’s incarceration has a historical, geographical, and gender dimension.
