Measuring attitudes regarding female genital mutilation through a list experiment (2014)
This study is a Descriptive research regarding All FGM/C with the following characteristics:
Author(s): Elisabetta De Cao
FGM/C Type(s): All
Health area of focus: None.
Objective: To measure the attitudes among women toward Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) by using new data collected in Ethiopia
Study Population: young people and women of reproductive age,our survey consists of women/mothers aged between 15 and 49
(n=631),and unmarried girls (n=217) aged between 15 and 24
Findings: Lower proportion (37%) of younger women (below age 25) was in favor of circumcision compared to the older age classes (41%). 39% of the Muslim women were in favor of FGM,while 31% was the proportion of Christians. In zones 1 and 3 about 40% of the women agreed on the sensitive issue,while 35% in zone 5. An interesting finding was the difference in rates among the women that had participated in a health education or health training program (23%) and the women who had never participated in any health education or training (42%). 42% of the never married women were in favor of FGM with respect to the 37% ever married women. About 42% of the women with no education or few years of education were in favor of FGM,while 23% was the percentage for the women that have finished elementary,secondary or tertiary education. Finally,37% of the women exposed to the NGO’s intervention agreed with the sensitive issue,while 42% was the percentage of the not exposed women. Results indicated that when asking a direct question about circumcision as if it was not sensitive,30% of the women were in favor of the practice. If,instead,the question’s sensitivity was taken into consideration by asking indirectly,the proportion of women in favor of FGM was much higher,39%. In general,a lot needed to be done to change these perceptions and to lower these high percentages
Geographical coverage
Region(s):Eastern Africa
Country(ies):Ethiopia