Document Type
Report
Publication Date
4-27-2020
Abstract
Female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) is recognized globally as carrying risks to both the physical and psychological health of girls and women and is widely considered a violation of human rights. An estimated 200 million girls and women in 30 countries have undergone FGM/C and as many as 30 million girls younger than 15 years of age are at risk. A common policy response to FGM/C is to call for the enactment and enforcement of criminal prohibitions on the practice. Yet, compliance with laws is complex: it can be motivated and undercut by moral, social, religious, and incentive-based factors. The study detailed in this working paper was conducted in two neighboring countries. Researchers selected Burkina Faso (which has a strong FGM/C law) and Mali (which has no specific FGM/C law) to explore attitudes and tendencies toward obeying the law and continuing FGM/C practices while controlling for many potentially confounding variables.
Recommended Citation
Wouango, Josephine, Susan L. Ostermann, and Daniel Mwanga. 2020. "When and how does law effectively reduce the practice of female genital mutilation/cutting?" Evidence to End FGM/C: Research to Help Girls and Women Thrive. New York: Population Council.
DOI
10.31899/rh12.1015
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, International Public Health Commons, Sociology of Culture Commons