Document Type
Report
Publication Date
2-13-2020
Abstract
More than 200 million girls and women alive today have undergone FGM/C across 30 countries in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. While most affected countries have adopted legal frameworks prohibiting FGM/C, these have been varyingly effective in preventing the practice or significantly accelerating its abandonment. The success of programmatic interventions to address FGM/C has also been variable. One possible reason for the limited success of these initiatives is the neglect of the collectively held social norms underpinning the practice’s continuation. This study, conducted in 30 villages in Somaliland, aimed to investigate: 1) if the norms associated with FGM/C are consistent with a social coordination norm; 2) which norms—if any—are associated with different stages of readiness to change; 3) how, to what extent, and by whom the norms and practices are being contested or altered; and 4) if the stages of readiness to change are associated with gender, location (rural/urban), and generational differences.
Recommended Citation
Powell, Richard A., Mohamed Yussuf, Bettina Shell-Duncan, and Caroline W. Kabiru. 2020. "Exploring the nature and extent of normative change in FGM/C in Somaliland," Evidence to End FGM/C: Research to Help Girls and Women Thrive. New York: Population Council.
DOI
10.31899/rh11.1027
Language
English
Project
Evidence to End FGM/C: Research to Help Girls and Women Thrive
Included in
Demography, Population, and Ecology Commons, Family, Life Course, and Society Commons, Gender and Sexuality Commons, Women's Health Commons