Female circumcision, otherwise known as genital mutilation, may seem inhumane and cruel to those in the West, but it’s more common than you might think in many countries around the world.

The practice is prevalent in Egypt, Ethiopia, Chad, Kenya, Cameroon, Yemen and others. An estimated 70 million girls and women in 27 African and Middle Eastern countries have been circumcised. The tradition is primarily performed on girls ages 4 to 14, although it is also done on infants. It is practiced by Muslims and Christians.

But the Associated Press reports that there is a movement afoot in Egypt, where women are realizing the health and emotional hazards of putting their young daughters under the knife.

In Sultan Zawyit, Egypt, Maha Mohammed — who was cut 20 years ago — is starting to doubt whether she should circumcise her two daughters. She worries that if they are not, they won’t be able to control their sexual urges and may not find husbands. But a neighbor has been trying to persuade her to leave her daughters intact.

"I hear that girls suffer not just physically but psychologically," 31-year-old Mohammed told AP. "But I am afraid. I don’t want my daughters to have uncontrollable demands for sex."

With vigorous grassroots campaigns and the passage of tough laws against circumcision, Egypt seems to be making a dent in the thousands-year-old practice; 96 percent of married Egyptian women have had their genitals cut, but an increasing number of young girls are escaping it. A recent survey predicts about 63 percent of Egyptian girls nine years old and under will be circumcised over the next decade. The numbers are lower in urban areas like Cairo, where higher incomes, education and access to information is more prevalent.

Local activists in Egypt are going door-to-door, trying to convince women their daughters can have strong, healthy, religious lives without being circumcised.

"I don’t care what everyone thinks. I was really harmed, and I didn’t want this for my daughters," said Fatma Mohammed Ali, a 35-year-old mother, whose daughters weren’t circumcised – one even attended college, a big achievement for someone from the village. "When I talk about my experience, many become convinced. They also see how my daughters are good and religious."

The campaign seems to be working. Of some 3,000 families targeted over the past few years in several nearby villages, more than half say they have abandoned the practice, and others are considering it. But activists stress that laws alone aren’t enough, particularly since women are pressured to uphold the conservative tradition.

"There is a wave of change right now," said Mona Amin of The National Council for Childhood and Motherhood. "But we must keep this momentum, this intensity."