Sierra Leone

Guinea

STATIST ICAL PROFILE ON FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION/CUTTING

No national decree/legislation banning FGM/C Female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) refers to “all procedures involving partial or total removal of the female external genitalia or other injury to the female SELECTED STATISTICS ON WOMEN’S STATUS genital organs for non-medical reasons.”1 FGM/C is a violation of girls’ and women’s of women 20-24 years were married or human rights and is condemned by many 13 % in union before age 15 international treaties and conventions, as well as by national legislation in many of women 20-24 years were married or in union before age 18 countries. Yet, where it is practised FGM/C 39% is performed in line with tradition and of women 20-24 years have given birth social norms to ensure that girls are 36% by age 18 socially accepted and marriageable, and to uphold their status and honour and that of women 15-49 years old think that a of the entire family. UNICEF works with 63% husband/partner is justiﬁed in hitting/ government and civil society partners beating his wife/partner under certain circumstances towards the elimination of FGM/C in countries where it is still practised. of women 15-49 years old who make 44% 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 statement, WHO, UNFPA, UNICEF, UNIFEM, OHCHR, UNHCR, UNECA, UNESCO, UNDP, UNAIDS, WHO, Geneva, 2008, p. 4. magazine, television, radio)

Source: DHS 2013

Data and Analytics Section DIVISION OF DATA, RESEARCH AND POLICY HOWHOW WIDESPREADWIDESPREAD ISIS THETHE PRACTICE?PRACTICE?

9 in 10 girls and women in Sierra Leone have undergone FGM/C

Percentage of girls and women aged 15 to 49 years Percentage of girls and women aged 15 to 49 years who have undergone FGM/C, who have undergone FGM/C, by region by residence, wealth quintile and religion

100 94 95 93 Less than 90 81 10% 80 77 78 10% - 25% 60 26% - 50%

51% - 80% 40 Above 80% 20

0 Total Rural Urban Poorest Richest Muslim Christian

Percentage of girls and women aged 15-49 yearsAmong daughters of cut girls and women, the percentage of girls aged Percentage of girls and women aged 15 to 49 with at least one living daughter who has undergone who have had FGM/C, by préfecture 0 to 14 years who have undergone FGM/C (as reported by their mothers), FGM/C by residence, mother's education and wealth quintile by mothers' attitudes about whether the practice should continue

50 50 40 40 36 30 31 33 31 30 28 26 23 20 20 15 16 10 10 10 10 10

0 0 Daughters whose Daughters whose Daughters whose Daughters whose Total Rural Urban No education Primary Secondary or Poorest Richest mothers think mothers say it mothers are mothers think complete higher FGM/C should depends unsure FGM/C should continue stop Source: MICS 2010

WHEN AND HOW IS FGM/C PERFORMED? WHEN AND HOW IS FGM/C PERFORMED?

Two in three girls experienced the practice between ages 5 and 14

P Percentage1 5-49distribution years who of most have recently at least onecircumcised daughter daughters, who has had by ageFGM/C, at which by place cutting of residence occurred and mother's education

0-4 years

5-9 years

10-14 years 15 29 37 14 5

15+ years Don’t know/ Missing 0 20 40 60 80 100 0 20 40 60 80 100 Percentage distribution of most recently cut Percentage distribution of most recently circumcised daughters, Percentage distribution of most recently circumcised Notes: The boundaries and the names shown and the daughters, by daughter's age at cutting designations used on the map do not imply ofﬁcial according to the type of person/practitioner performing the procedure daughters, by type of FGM/C performed endorsement or acceptance by the United Nations. Only categories with 25 or more unweighted cases are presented. Due to rounding, some of the data presented 1 1 0.4 Cut, no flesh may not add up to 100 per cent. ‘Health personnel’ includes doctors, nurses, midwives and other health Health personnel removed/Nicked workers; ‘Traditional practitioner’ includes traditional

17 Cut, flesh circumcisers, traditional birth attendants, traditional Traditional removed midwives and other types of traditional practitioners. practitioner 9 Sewn closed Don’t know/ Missing 73 Type not 98 determined/Not sure/Don’t know

Source for all charts on this page: DHS 2013, unless otherwise noted WHAT ARE THE PREVAILING ATTITUDES TOWARDS FGM/C?

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 and Percentage of girls and women aged 15 to 49 years and boys and men aged 15 to 49 years men aged 15 to 49 years who have heard about FGM/C and believe the who have heard about FGM/C, by their attitudes about whether the practice should continue practice is required by religion

Think FGM/C should continue Think FGM/C should stop Say it depends/are not sure 100

80 56 Girls and 69 23 8 60 women 47 40

Boys and 46 40 13 20 men 0 0 20 40 60 80 100 Girls and women Boys and men

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

100

80 81 80 76 81 69 71 60 56 59 51 49 40

0 Total Poorest Richest No education Primary complete Secondary Rural Urban 45-49 years 15-19 years or higher

Source for all the above charts: DHS 2013

IS THE PRACTICE OF FGM/C CHANGING?

There is evidence of some decline in the prevalence of FGM/C 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/C, by current age

98 97 98 96 100 93 88

80 74

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

Source: DHS 2013 Percentage of girls and women aged 15 to 49 years who have undergone FGM/C, and percentage of girls and women aged 15 to 49 years who have heard about FGM/C and think the practice should continue

Prevalence of FGM/C Think FGM/C should continue Notes: N/A = not available. Data on attitudes 94 from the 2010 MICS are excluded due to a 100 91 90 86 88 lack of comparability. 80 66 69 60

20 N/A 0 MICS 2005 DHS 2008 MICS 2010 DHS 2013 SIERRA LEONE

INTER-COUNTRY STATISTICAL OVERVIEW

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

100 97 98 93 90 87 87 89 83 80 74 75 76 69

60 50 44 45 40 38

24 25 25 19 21 20 15 8 9 4 5 1 1 2 0

ogo Iraq Mali Niger T Benin emen African Chad Ghana Y Kenya Liberia Eritrea Sudan Egypt Guinea Uganda Nigeria Ethiopia Gambia Djibouti Somalia Senegal Mauritania Cameroon anzania Egypt T Côte d'Ivoire CentralRepublic Burkina Faso Sierra Leone Unitedof Republic Guinea-Bissau

Percentage of girls and women aged 15 to 49 with at least one living daughter who has undergone FGM/C

100

80 74

60 49 46 40 31 33

20 16 18

1 1 3 3 0 Cameroon Niger Iraq United Republic of Tanzania Yemen Chad Sierra Leone Somalia Dijibouti Mali

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

100

80 76 73 69 65 65 60 54

41 41 40 37 38 39 31 23 19 20 16 13 14 11 12 7 9 9 5 6 6 6 1 2 3 0

ogo T Iraq Benin Niger Kenya Mali Ghana African Eritrea emen Nigeria Chad Liberia Sudan Egypt Uganda Senegal Y Ethiopia Djibouti Somalia Gambia Guinea anzania Cameroon T Mauritania Côte d'Ivoire Sierra Leone Unitedof Republic Burkina FasoCentral Republic Guinea-Bissau

Notes: Data for Iraq and Yemen refer to ever-married girls and women aged 15 to 49 years with at least one living daughter who has undergone FGM/C. MICS data for Ghana (2011) could not be used to report on attitudes towards FGM/C 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/C; since girls and women from practising communities are more likely to support the practice, the level of support in this country as captured by the 2013 DHS is higher than would be expected had all girls and women been asked their opinion.

Updated February 2016 Sources: DHS, MICS, Population and Health Survey, 2004-2015. FOR MORE INFORMATION Data and Analytics Section - Division of Data, Research and Policy UNICEF, 3 UN Plaza, New York, 10017 The Data and Analytics Section gratefully acknowledges inputs shared by UNICEF country ofﬁces. Website: data.unicef.org Email: [email protected]