“Breast ironing” refers to the painful practice of massaging or pounding young girls’ breasts with heated objects to suppress or reverse the growth of breasts. The objects used include plantains, wooden pestles and grinding stones heated over coals. The practice has been documented primarily in Cameroon, and is performed by mothers wishing to protect their young daughters from rape, unwanted sexual advances and early sex and pregnancies, all of which they fear would result from the appearance that a girl has reached the age of puberty. (See: Kouyaté Expert Paper, p. 3;  Cameroon Girls Battle “Breast Ironing,” BBC News, 2006)

In its concluding comments for the country of Cameroon, the CEDAW Committee expressed its concern for the continued practice of breast ironing. The Committee called on the State to increase its efforts to eliminate breast ironing and other harmful practices.  

Conclusions and recommendations of the Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, Cameroon, U.N. Doc. CEDAW/C/CMR/CO/3 (2009),

29. The Committee urges the State party to enact national legislation to prohibit female genital mutilation, as well as any other harmful practice, such as breast ironing, in all instances, to strengthen its awareness-raising and educational efforts, targeted at both women and men, with the support of civil society, and to eliminate the practices of female genital mutilation and breast ironing and their underlying cultural justifications. It also encourages the State party to devise programmes for alternate sources of income for those who perform female genital mutilation as a means of livelihood

Legislation addressing breast ironing should include the following elements: 

• Legislation should clearly and specifically condemn the practice of breast ironing;

• Legislation should establish and fund education and public awareness programs regarding the consequences of breast ironing;

• Legislation should promote alternative means of preventing early pregnancies through school sex education courses and community outreach education;

• Legislation should impose a duty upon medical providers and teachers to report any case of breast ironing to social service providers and child protection agencies;

• Legislation should authorize courts to issue protection orders upon application by a third party individual or organization on behalf of the child.   This protection order should include an ex parte protection order for girls at risk of breast ironing or in the process of breast ironing; 

• Legislation should also provide for the protection of younger sisters of known victims, as these sisters are often at risk of being subjected to breast ironing.  Drafters should require that the state child protection agency initiate an investigation to determine whether younger siblings of a known victim are at risk of becoming victims, and apply for a protection order if necessary;

• Violation of protection orders should be criminalized;

• Legislation should provide services for victims such as legal, medical, and other types of rehabilitation services; and

• Legislation and other practices that perpetuate this harmful practice, such as sexual assault and harassment, should be amended or abolished.

See also sub-sections on Relevant Harmful Practices Addressed in this Module:

• Drafting Legislation on Forced and Child Marriage
• Drafting Legislation on Female Genital Mutilation
• Drafting Legislation on Honour Crimes
• Drafting Legislation on Maltreatment of Widows
• Drafting Legislation on Dowry-Related Violence