© UNICEF/UNI109103/Asselin
STATISTICAL PROFILE ON FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION
No national decree/legislation banning FGM Female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM) refers to “all procedures involving partial or total removal of the female external genitalia or other injury to the KEY STATISTICS ON WOMEN’S STATUS female genital organs for non-medical reasons.”1 While the exact number of girls and women of women 20-24 years were married or worldwide who have undergone FGM remains 13% in union before age 15 unknown, at least 200 million girls and women have been cut in 30 countries with representative of women 20-24 years old married or in data on prevalence. FGM is a violation of girls’ and 30% union before age 18 women’s human rights and is condemned by many of women 20-24 years have given birth international treaties and conventions, as well by age 18 as by national legislation in many countries. Yet, 31% where it is practised FGM is performed in line with of women 15-49 years old think that a tradition and social norms to ensure that girls are husband/partner is justified in hitting/ socially accepted and marriageable, and to uphold 53% beating his wife/partner under certain their status and honour and that of the entire circumstances family. UNICEF works with government and civil society partners towards the elimination of FGM in of women 15-49 years old who make countries where it is still practised. use of at least one type of information media at least once a week (newspaper, 1. World Health Organization, Eliminating Female Genital Mutilation: An interagency 42% statement, WHO, UNFPA, UNICEF, UNIFEM, OHCHR, UNHCR, UNECA, UNESCO, UNDP, magazine, television, radio) UNAIDS, WHO, Geneva, 2008, p. 4.
Source: MICS 2017
Data and Analytics Section DIVISION OF DATA, RESEARCH AND POLICY HOW WIDESPREAD IS THE PRACTICE?
Nearly nine in ten girls and women in Sierra Leone have undergone FGM
Percentage of girls and women aged 15 to 49 years Percentage of girls and women aged 15 to 49 years who have undergone FGM, who have undergone FGM, by region by residence and wealth quintile
100 92 93 86 Less than 10 80 80 75 10 - 25
2 - 50 60
51 - 0 40 Above 0 20
0 Total Rural Urban Poorest Richest
Among daughters of cut girls and women, the percentage of Percentage of girls aged 0 to 14 years who have undergone FGM (as reported girls aged 0 to 14 years who have undergone FGM by their mothers), by residence, mother’s education and wealth quintile (as reported by their mothers), by mothers’ attitudes about whether the practice should continue
50 50
40 40
30 30
20 20 10 9 8 9 10 9 10 10 10 7 6 4 3 3 2 0 0 Daughters Daughters Daughters Daughters Total Rural Urban No Primary Junior Senior Poorest Richest whose mothers whose mothers whose mothers whose mothers education complete secondary secondary think FGM are unsure think FGM say it depends or higher should continue should stop
WHEN AND HOW IS FGM PERFORMED?
FGM commonly occurs in adolesence; nearly half of girls who underwent the practice were cut after age 10
PercentageTwo distribution in three of girls girls aged experienced 15 to 19 years thewho havepractice undergone between FGM, by agesage at which5 and cutting 14 occurred
0-4 years
5-9 years 4 33 26 19 18 10-14 years 15+ years Don’t know/ 0 20 40 60 80 100 Missing
Notes: The boundaries and the names shown and the Percentage distribution of girls aged 0 to 14 years Percentage distribution of girls aged 0 to 14 years designations used on the map do not imply official endorsement who have undergone FGM, according to the type who have undergone FGM, by type of FGM performed or acceptance by the United Nations. Only categories with 25 or of person/practitioner performing the procedure more unweighted cases are presented. Due to rounding, some of the data presented may not add up to 100 per cent. Prevalence 1 0.2 data for girls aged 0 to 14 reflect their current, but not final, FGM 0 1 Cut, no flesh status since some girls who have not been cut may still be at risk of experiencing the practice once they reach the customary removed/Nicked 9 age for cutting. Therefore, the data on prevalence for girls under Health personnel Cut, flesh age 15 is actually an underestimation the true extent of the removed practice. Since age at cutting varies among settings, the amount Traditional of underestimation also varies and this should be kept in mind practitioner Sewn closed when interpreting all FGM prevalence data for this age group. 89 ‘Health personnel’ includes doctors, nurses, midwives and other Don’t know/ Type not health workers; ‘Traditional practitioner’ includes traditional 99 Missing determined/Not circumcisers, traditional birth attendants, traditional midwives sure/Don’t know and other types of traditional practitioners.
Source for all charts on this page: MICS 2017 WHAT ARE THE PREVAILING ATTITUDES TOWARDS FGM?
Women are more likely than men to support the continuation of the practice
Percentage of girls and women aged 15 to 49 years and boys Percentage of girls and women aged 15 to 49 years and boys and men aged 15 to 49 years and men aged 15 to 49 years who have heard about FGM and who have heard about FGM, by their attitudes about whether the practice should continue believe the practice is required by religion
Think FGM should continue Think FGM should stop Say it depends/not sure 100
80
Girls and 68 27 5 56 women 60 47 40 Boys and 46 40 13 men 20
0 20 40 60 80 100 0 Girls and women Boys and men Source: MICS 2017 for girls and women and DHS 2013 for boys and men Source: DHS 2013
Percentage of girls and women aged 15 to 49 years who have heard about FGM and think the practice should continue, by wealth quintile, education, residence and age
100
83 81 80 80 80 68 72
60 56 56 47 52
40
20
0 Total Poorest Richest No education Primary Secondary Rural Urban 45-49 years 15-19 years complete or higher Source: MICS 2017
IS THE PRACTICE OF FGM CHANGING?
There is evidence of some decline in the prevalence of FGM in Sierra Leone, and attitudes towards the practice have also changed over time
Percentage of girls and women aged 15 to 49 years who have undergone FGM, by current age
98 96 100 96 95 91 86 80
60 64
40
20
0 45-49 years 40-44 years 35-39 years 30-34 years 25-29 years 20-24 years 15-19 years Source: MICS 2017
Notes: N/A = not available. Data on Percentage of girls and women aged 15 to 49 years who have undergone FGM, and percentage of girls and attitudes from the 2010 MICS are excluded women aged 15 to 49 years who have heard about FGM and think the practice should continue due to a lack of comparability
Prevalence of FGM Think FGM should continue 100 94 91 86 88 90 86 80 66 69 68 60
40
20 N/A 0 MICS 2005 DHS 2008 MICS 2010 DHS 2013 MICS 2017 SIERRA LEONE
INTER-COUNTRY STATISTICAL OVERVIEW
Percentage of girls and women aged 15 to 49 years who have undergone FGM
98 100 93 97 87 87 83 83 86 80 75 76 65 67 60
44 45 40 37 38
24 24 21 20 18 19 7 9 10 5 0.3 1 2 4 0
Iraq Mali Niger Togo Benin Chad Egypt Ghana Nigeria Yemen Kenya Liberia Eritrea Sudan Uganda Senegal Ethiopia Gambia Djibouti Guinea Somalia Cameroon Republic Mauritania Côte d’Ivoire Burkina Faso of Tanzania Guinea-Bissau Sierra Leone United Republic Central African
Percentage of girls aged 0 to 14 years who have undergone FGM (as reported by their mothers)
100
80 73
60 56 51 49 45 40 33 29 30
20 14 16 8 10 10 13 13 14 0.2 0.3 0.4 1 1 1 1 3 0 e ir Iraq o Togo v Mali Benin 'I Chad Egypt Sudan Eritrea Ghana Uganda Kenya d Nigeria Guinea Gambia te Senegal Ethiopia Indonesia Republic ô Mauritania C of Tanzania Sierra Leone Burkina Faso Guinea-Bissau United Republic Central African
Percentage of girls and women aged 15 to 49 years who have heard about FGM and think the practice should continue
100
80 75 67 68 65 65 60 54
39 41 40 36 37 29 22 20 18 19 13 14 15 9 9 11 12 6 6 7 1 2 3 3 3 0
ogo T Iraq Benin Niger Kenya Mali Ghana African Eritrea Nigeria Chad Liberia Sudan Egypt Uganda Senegal Ethiopia Yemen Djibouti Somalia Gambia Guinea anzania Cameroon T Mauritania Côte d'Ivoire Sierra Leone Unitedof Republic Burkina FasoCentral Republic Guinea-Bissau
Notes: Data on attitudes for Yemen refer to ever-married girls and women. In Liberia, girls and women who have heard of the Sande society were asked whether they were members; this provides indirect information on FGM since it is performed during initiation into the society. Egypt data refer to girls aged 1 to 14 years and Indonesia data refer to girls aged 0 to 11 years. An older source is used to report on the prevalence of FGM among girls aged 0 to 14 years for Gambia (MICS 2010) and Uganda (DHS 2011) since the latest source did not collect these data. MICS data for Ghana (2011) could not be used to report on attitudes towards FGM due to the fact that information is missing for girls and women with no living daughters; data from MICS 2006 are used instead. In Liberia, only cut girls and women were asked about their attitudes towards FGM; since girls and women from practicing communities are more likely to support the practice, the level of support in this country as captured by DHS 2013 is higher than would be expected had all girls and women been asked their opinion. Prevalence data on FGM for girls and women aged 15 to 49 years and data on attitudes towards FGM are not available for Indonesia.
Sources: DHS, MICS, Health Issues Survey, Population and Health Survey FOR MORE INFORMATION and RISKESDAS, 2004-2018. Data and Analytics Section - Division of Data, Research and Policy Updated January 2019 UNICEF, 3 UN Plaza, New York, 10017 Website: data.unicef.org Email: [email protected]