Abstract
Background: Women’s empowerment may play a role in shaping attitudes towards female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) practices. We aimed to investigate how empowerment may affect women’s intention to perpetuate FGM/C and the practice of FGM/C on their daughters in African countries. Materials and methods: We used data from Demographic and Health Surveys carried out from 2010 to 2018. The countries included in our study were Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad, Côte d´Ivoire, Ethiopia, Guinea, Kenya, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, and Togo. This study included 77,191 women aged 15–49 years with at least one daughter between zero and 14 years of age. The proportion of women who reported having at least one daughter who had undergone FGM/C as well as the mother’s opinion towards FGM/C continuation were stratified by empowerment levels in three different domains (decision-making, attitude to violence, and social independence) for each country. We also performed double stratification to investigate how the interaction between both indicators would affect daughter’s FGM/C. Results: The prevalence of women who had at least one daughter who had undergone FGM/C was consistently higher among low empowered women. Tanzania, Benin, and Togo were exceptions for which no differences in having at least one daughter subjected to FGM/C was found for any of the three domains of women’s empowerment. In most countries, the double stratification pointed to a lower proportion of daughters’ FGM/C among women who reported being opposed to the continuation of FGM/C and had a high empowerment level while a higher proportion was observed among women who reported being in favor of the continuation of FGM/C and had a low empowerment level. This pattern was particularly evident for the social independence domain of empowerment. In a few countries, however, a higher empowerment level coupled to a favorable opinion towards FGM/C was related to a higher proportion of daughters’ FGM/C. Conclusion: Women’s empowerment and opinion towards FGM/C seems to be important factors related to the practice of FGM/C in daughters. Strategies to improve women’s empowerment combined with shifts in the wider norms that support FGM/C may be important for achieving significant reductions in the practice.
Highlights
Women’s empowerment may play a role in shaping attitudes towards female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) practices
Female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) is deeply rooted in cultural beliefs and social norms perpetuated over generations which are related to ideals of femininity and modesty including the notion that FGM/C will preserve virginity and reduce promiscuity, increasing girls’ marriageability (WHO, 2020)
The proportion of women with at least one daughter who had undergone FGM/C ranged from 0.3% in Benin to 75.9% in Mali (Figure 1)
Summary
Women’s empowerment may play a role in shaping attitudes towards female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) practices. Despite sociocultural variations in FGM/C across countries, the practice is widely considered by cultural outsiders and/or opponents of the practice a harmful traditional custom that violates women and girls’ rights to health and wellbeing (WHO, 2010; Earp and Johnsdotter, 2021), which is why various agencies and campaigners, including the United Nations, aim to eliminate non-Western associated FGM/C by 2030 (Nations, 2015). The decision-making process to perform FGM/C is influenced by social norms and community beliefs and usually lies within the confines of households, involving more than one individual of the family—each one with different power over the decision (Alradie-Mohamed et al, 2020; Cappa et al, 2020). Mother, grandmothers, and other women (e.g., aunties) are the key decision-makers with fathers and other men playing a limited role in the decision-making process (Alradie-Mohamed et al, 2020)
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