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STATISTICAL PROFILE ON FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION

Female genital mutilation (FGM) refers to “all National decree/legislation banning procedures involving partial or total removal of 2005 FGM passed the female external genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons.”1 SELECTED STATISTICS ON WOMEN’S STATUS While the exact number of and women worldwide who have undergone FGM remains of women 20-24 years were married or unknown, at least 200 million girls and women 18% in union before age 15 have been cut in 31 countries with representative of women 20-24 years were married or data on prevalence. FGM is a violation of girls’ 37% in union before age 18 and women’s human rights and is condemned by many international treaties and conventions, as of women 20-24 years have given birth well as by national legislation in many countries. 22% by age 18 Yet, where it is practised FGM is performed in line with tradition and social norms to ensure that of women aged 15-49 years old think that a husband/partner is justified in girls are socially accepted and marriageable, and 27% hitting/beating his wife under certain to uphold their status and honour and that of the circumstances entire family. UNICEF works with government and civil society partners towards the elimination of of women 15-49 years make use at least FGM in countries where it is still practised. one type of information media at least 59% once a week (newspaper, magazine, 1. World Health Organization, Eliminating Female Genital Mutilation: An interagency statement, WHO, UNFPA, UNICEF, UNIFEM, OHCHR, UNHCR, UNECA, UNESCO, UNDP, television or radio) UNAIDS, WHO, Geneva, 2008, p. 4. Source: MICS 2015

Data and Analytics Section DIVISION OF DATA, ANALYTICS, PLANNING AND MONITORING HOW WIDESPREAD IS THE PRACTICE?

Nearly 70 per cent of girls and women in Mauritania have undergone FGM with those living in rural areas and from poorer households more likely to experience the practice

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 household wealth quintile

100 92 79 Less than 10% 80 67 10% - 25% 60 55 26% - 50% 37

51% - 80% 40

Above 80% 20

0 Total Rural Urban Poorest Richest

Among daughters of cut girls and women, the percentage of girls aged Percentage of girls aged 0 to 14 years who have undergone FGM (as reported 0 to 14 years who have undergone FGM (as reported by their ), by their mothers), by residence, ’s education and wealth quintile by mothers’ attitudes about whether the practice should continue

100 100 82 90 80 80 66 61 63 63 60 51 60 47 40 40 33 40 18 20 13 20

0 0 Primary Secondary Koranic/non- Daughters whose Daughters whose Daughters whose or higher standard mothers think mothers say it mothers think curriculum FGM should continue depends/are not sure FGM should stop

WHEN AND HOW IS FGM PERFORMED?

Almost eight out of ten adolescent girls who underwent the practice were cut before the age of 5; most of the remaining girls are unsure at what age they were cut

PercentageTwo distribution in three of girls girls aged experienced 15 to 19 years who the have practice undergone between FGM, by age ages at which 5 and cutting 14 occurred

0-4 years 0.4 0.2 5-9 years 77 22 10-14 years 15+ years Don’t know/ Missing 0 20 40 60 80 100

Notes: The boundaries and the names shown and the Percentage distribution of girls aged 0 to 14 years who have Percentage distribution of girls aged 0 to 14 years designations zused on the map do not imply official endorsement undergone FGM (as reported by their mothers), according to who have undergone FGM (as reported by their or acceptance by the United Nations. Only categories with 25 or the type of person/practitioner performing the procedure mothers), by type of FGM performed more unweighted cases are presented. Due to rounding, some of the data presented may not add up to 100 per cent. There is no ethnicity or religion data for Mauritania. Prevalence data for 2 1 1 girls aged 0 to 14 reflect their current, but not final, FGM status Cut, no flesh since some girls who have not been cut may still be at risk of 20 removed/Nicked experiencing the practice once they reach the customary age Health personnel for cutting. Therefore, the data on prevalence for girls under Cut, flesh 4 age 15 is actually an underestimation of the true extent of the Traditional removed practice. Since age at cutting varies among settings, the amount practitioner of underestimation also varies and this should be kept in mind Sewn closed when interpreting all FGM prevalence data for this age group. Other/Don't know/ 75 97 ‘Health personnel’ includes doctors, nurses, midwives and other Missing Type not determined/ health workers; ‘Traditional practitioner’ includes traditional Not sure/Don’t know circumcisers, traditional birth attendants and other types of traditional practitioners. Source for all charts on this page: MICS 2015 WHAT ARE THE PREVAILING ATTITUDES TOWARDS FGM?

More than one in three girls and women think FGM should continue in Mauritania

Among girls and women aged 15 to 49 years who have heard Percentage of girls and women aged 15 to 49 years and boys and men aged 15 to 49 years about FGM, the percentage who cite specific benefits or who have heard about FGM, by their attitudes about whether the practice should continue advantages for a to undergo the procedure

No benefits 21 Think FGM should continue Think FGM should stop Say it depends/are not sure Cleanliness/Hygiene 19 Social acceptance 35 Girls and women 36 50 14 Better marriage prospects 4 Preservation of virginity 31

Boys More sexual pleasure for the man 2 69 12 and men 19 Required by religion 29 Other 9 0 20 40 60 80 100 Don’t know N/A Source: MICS 2015 for girls and women and DHS 2000-01 for boys and men Source: DHS 2000-01

Percentage of girls and women aged 15 to 49 years who have heard about FGM and think the practice should continue, by household wealth quintile, education, residence and age

100

80 62 60 48 49 42 39 40 36 38 36 24 20 20 13

0 Total Poorest Richest No education Primary Secondary Koranic/non-standard Rural Urban 45-49 years 15-19 years or higher curriculum

IS THE PRACTICE OF FGM CHANGING?

There are signs of a small decline in the prevalence of FGM over time

Percentage of girls and women aged 15 to 49 years who have undergone FGM, by current age

100

80 73 72 69 66 68 64 63 60

40

20

0 45-49 years 40-44 years 35-39 years 30-34 years 25-29 years 20-24 years 15-19 years

Notes: There are no ethnicity data for Percentage of girls and women aged 15 to 49 years who have undergone FGM, and percentage of girls Mauritania. Data on women’s attitudes cannot and women aged 15 to 49 years who have heard about FGM and think the practice should continue be directly compared with men’s attitudes since the data source for girls and women is 100 more recent than that for boys and men.

Source for all above charts: MICS 2015, unless 80 71 72 otherwise noted. Prevalence 69 67 64 of FGM 60 53 Think FGM 41 36 should continue 40

20

0 DHS 2000-01 MICS 2007 MICS 2011 MICS 2015 MAURITANIA

INTER-COUNTRY STATISTICAL OVERVIEW

Percentage of girls and women aged 15 to 49 years who have undergone FGM

98 100 94 95 89 83 86 87 87 80 76 76 65 67 60 44 45 40 37 38 24 24 21 20 19 19 13 7 9 10 0.3 1 2 3 4 0

Togo Iraq Mali Niger Ghana Benin Kenya Chad Eritrea Sudan Egypt Uganda Yemen Nigeria Liberia Gambia Guinea Maldives Senegal Ethiopia Djibouti Somalia Cameroon Mauritania RepublicCôte d'Ivoire Burkina Faso Sierra Leone Central African Guinea-Bissau United of Republic Tanzania

Percentage of girls aged 0 to 14 years who have undergone FGM (as reported by their mothers)

100

80 73

60 49 51 51 39 43 40 33 29 30

20 16 13 13 14 14 8 10 10 0.2 0.3 0.4 1 1 1 1 1 3 0

Iraq Togo Chad Egypt Mali Benin Ghana Kenya Nigeria Sudan Eritrea Guinea Uganda Senegal Ethiopia Djibouti Gambia Maldives Indonesia Mauritania Republic Sierra Leone Côte d'IvoireBurkina Faso Guinea-Bissau of Tanzania Central African United Republic

Percentage of girls and women aged 15 to 49 who have heard of FGM and think the practice should continue

100

80 76 65 65 68 60 54 44 39 41 40 36 37 29 23 19 20 15 17 11 12 13 14 9 9 6 6 7 8 1 2 3 3 3 0

Iraq Togo Benin Niger Chad Mali Ghana Kenya Eritrea Liberia Sudan Egypt Uganda Yemen Nigeria Gambia Guinea Maldives Senegal Ethiopia Djibouti Somalia Cameroon Republic Mauritania Burkina Faso Côte d'Ivoire Sierra Leone of Tanzania Central African Guinea-Bissau United Republic

Notes: 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. Data on girls’ prevalence in Egypt refer to girls aged 6 months to 14 years and in Indonesia refer to girls aged 0 to 11 years. An older source is used to report on the prevalence of FGM among girls and on the percentage of support for FGM in Uganda (DHS 2011) since the latest source did not collect these data. Data on the prevalence among girls refer to an older source in Nigeria (MICS 2016-17) due to an anomaly in the results in the most recent source. 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. EDSF/PAPFAM data for Djibouti (2012) could not be used for attitudes towards FGM since the question is different from the standard; 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. In Egypt and Somalia, the support for FGM was calculated among all girls and women, since respondents were not first asked whether they had heard of the practice. Prevalence data for girls and women aged 15 to 49 years and data on attitudes towards FGM are not available for Indonesia.

Source: DHS, EDSF/PAPFAM, MICS, Health Issues Survey, Population and FOR MORE INFORMATION Health Survey and RISKESDAS, 2004-2018. Data and Analytics Section - Division of Data, Analytics, Planning and Monitoring Updated January 2020 UNICEF, 3 UN Plaza, New York, 10017 Website: data.unicef.org Email: [email protected]