This study examines the social dynamics of the abandonment of female genital mutilation/cutting(FGM/C) in five countries – Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Senegal and the Sudan – and seeks to inform policies and programmes aimed at ending the practice, both in countries where it is part of local tradition and among diaspora communities in countries of immigration.
Despite the range of diversity found across and within the five countries analysed, the experiences confirm that in communities where it is practised, FGM/C is viewed as a necessary step to raise and protect a girl and often to make her eligible for marriage. It operates as a social convention and a social norm, and is held in place by reciprocal expectations within those communities.
The social rewards and sanctions associated with FGM/C are a powerful determinant of both the continuation and the abandonment of the practice. Failure to conform to FGM/C can affect not only a girl’s marriageability, it can also lead to social exclusion, ostracism or even violence. Nonconformity may also affect the standing of a girl’s family within the community. Conformity, on the other hand, meets with social approval, brings respect and admiration and maintains social standing in the community.
Key findings
- Efforts to end FGM/C began decades ago. Although initiatives brought national and international attention to this issue, they were often carried out as a ‘fight’ against local traditions. Communities have viewed such interventions as an attack on their culture and values, which has made them resistant to change.
- The recent experiences from the five countries provide evidence that abandonment of FGM/C is more likely to occur and be sustained when programmes address the complex social dynamics associated with the practice. An understanding and appreciation of these social dynamics is transforming the ways in which FGM/C abandonment is approached. Rather than passing negative judgement on the individuals and communities that uphold the practice, effective programmes reinforce community values, make them explicit and stimulate discussion of how these are better upheld by finding alternatives to harmful practices. This frames the discussion surrounding FGM/C in a non-threatening way.
- The analysis of social dynamics also proves that a harmful and rights-violating practice such as FGM/C can be changed without disrupting the positive underlying social values that it represents. Where strategies that are consistent with an understanding of these dynamics are defined and consistently applied, progress towards complete abandonment can accelerate rapidly. Documentation and programme evaluation in the five countries examined show that, over a relatively brief period of 10 years, coordinated and effective interventions report abandonment of the practice in intervention areas and beyond, and that attitudes towards FGM/C have shifted.
- These successes build on the work of many actors over the years, which achieved pockets of success but overall resulted in slow decreases in prevalence. In many cases, the recent changes are significant and indicate that individuals are questioning the merits of these practices and would prefer, circumstances permitting, not to have their daughters, wives, sisters and cousins undergo FGM/C. Significant changes within society have also been reported. Progress was gauged by monitoring public commitments of abandonment, by recognizing the increasing number of pressure groups openly advocating to stop the practice, by observing changes in social sanctions and social expectations, by acknowledging the different degrees of governments engagement and by assessing the level and nature of media involvement.
- Additional work is necessary to systematize monitoring of the interventions and more effectively identify and measure trends and the sustainability of abandonment efforts. Moreover, there is a need to intensify and expand efforts working towards the complete abandonment of FGM/C, taking into account the fact that practicing groups are not confined by national boundaries but also live in neighbouring countries or countries of immigration.
