All in the family: Explaining the persistence of female genital cutting in West Africa

Bellemare, Marc F.; Novak, Lindsey; Steinmetz, Tara

doi:10.1016/j.jdeveco.2015.06.001

Cited by 64 publications

(44 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…While much evidence points to FGC being a social convention, there is also evidence that individual factors matter. One study of FGC support in West Africa found that, in contradiction to SCT, 87% of the variation in FGC persistence was attributable to household and individual-level factors [42]. Similarly, the smooth distribution of village-level FGC rates in Sudan, rather than the very high or very low rates that SCT would predict [43], suggests a more complex aetiology.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Attitudes towards female genital cutting among adolescents in rural Burkina Faso: a multilevel analysis

Greis

Bärnighausen

Bountogo

et al. 2020

Tropical Med Int Health

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objective Despite decades of abandonment efforts, female genital cutting (FGC) prevalence rates in Burkina Faso remain high. We present updated prevalence data from rural adolescents and examine factors associated with FGC receipt and attitudes, testing predictions of social convention and modernisation theory regarding the abandonment process.methods We interviewed 1644 adolescents aged 12-20 years from 10 villages and one sector of Nouna town in the Nouna Health and Demographic Surveillance site in late 2017. Response-weighted prevalence for self-reported FGC receipt, beliefs about religious requirements, and attitudes about abandonment were calculated. We used bivariate regression and two-level hierarchical models to test whether social convention or modernisation theory-related factors predicted current FGC attitudes.results 43% of women in our sample reported having undergone FGC; 74% of women and 76% of men believed FGC should be abandoned. The strongest predictors of FGC receipt were religion, ethnicity, the village's FGC rate and mother's education. The strongest predictors of FGC abandonment attitudes were religion, ethnicity, belief that FGC is religiously required, and own FGC status. Males' attitudes were less determined by community factors than females'; females' attitudes were more strongly influenced by factors linked to modernization, such as maternal education and household wealth.conclusions FGC continues to be common in rural and small-town Burkina Faso, and our analysis suggests that social conventions play an important role in its continuation. However, modernisationrelated factors were stronger predictors of abandonment attitudes than of FGC status, particularly in adolescent women. The changes these relationships suggest may benefit the next generation of girls.keywords Burkina Faso, female genital cutting, social convention theory, modernisation theory, adolescents Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): SDG 3 (good health and well-being), SDG 5 (gender equity), SDG 10 (reduced inequalities), SDG 17 (partnerships for the goals) Tropical Medicine and International Health

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Attitudes towards female genital cutting among adolescents in rural Burkina Faso: a multilevel analysis

Greis

Bärnighausen

Bountogo

et al. 2020

Tropical Med Int Health

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“…It proposes that to alter behaviour a coordinated effort is required among individuals from an intra-marrying population so that a critical mass reach a tipping point and switch together from a cutting to a non-cutting convention. Although influential in eradication programmes application of this theory to FGC behaviour has been challenged; a recent study found a range of cutting practices within intermarrying communities, inconsistent with a social convention norm 29 , and other studies found that access to women's social networks 30 or women's individual or household variables 31 are more important in perpetuating FGC.…”

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confidence: 99%

Frequency-dependent female genital cutting behaviour confers evolutionary fitness benefits

Howard

Gibson

2017

Nat Ecol Evol

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“…The last DHS estimates that the FGC prevalence is about 74.3% in Ethiopia, and 91.6% in the Afar region (Central Statistical Agency Ethiopia and ORC Macro, ). We note that these high prevalence rates of FGC are not unique for Ethiopia as similar figures are observed for countries such as Burkina Faso, Gambia, Guinea, Mali, and Sierra Leone (Bellemare et al ., ). These estimates, however, are based on self‐reported FGC status and, therefore, subject to bias.…”

Section: Datamentioning

confidence: 97%

“…There is extensive anthropological literature on the existence of FGC. 6 Economists have recently began studying FGC from both a theoretical perspective (Chesnokova and Vaithianathan, 2010;Coyne and Coyne, 2014) and empirically investigating, in particular, the determinants and consequences of FGC (Naguib, 2012;Ouedraogo and Koissy-Kpein, 2012;Molitor, 2014;Bellemare, Novak and Steinmetz, 2015;Wagner, 2015) or the effect of laws or programme interventions against FGC (Camilotti, 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sensitive Survey Questions: Measuring Attitudes Regarding Female Genital Cutting Through a List Experiment

Cao¹,

Lutz

2018

Oxf Bull Econ Stat

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Potential bias in survey responses is higher if sensitive outcomes are measured. This study analyses attitudes towards female genital cutting (FGC) in Ethiopia. A list experiment is designed to elicit truthful answers about FGC support and compares these outcomes with the answers given to a direct question. Our results confirm that the average bias is substantial as answers to direct questions underestimate the FGC support by about 10 percentage points. Moreover, our results provide suggestive but not statistically significant evidence that this bias is more pronounced among uneducated women and women targeted by an NGO intervention (not randomly assigned).

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All in the family: Explaining the persistence of female genital cutting in West Africa

Cited by 64 publications

References 21 publications

Attitudes towards female genital cutting among adolescents in rural Burkina Faso: a multilevel analysis

Attitudes towards female genital cutting among adolescents in rural Burkina Faso: a multilevel analysis

Frequency-dependent female genital cutting behaviour confers evolutionary fitness benefits

Sensitive Survey Questions: Measuring Attitudes Regarding Female Genital Cutting Through a List Experiment

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