School of Public Health, University of Ghana, Legon, Ghana.
Heilbrunn Department of Population and Family Health, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.
Reprod Health. 2021 Mar 1;18(1):52. doi: 10.1186/s12978-021-01085-z.
The practice of female genital mutilation (FGM/C) in traditional African societies is grounded in traditions of patriarchy that subjugate women. It is widely assumed that approaches to eradicating the practice must therefore focus on women's empowerment and changing gender roles.
This paper presents findings from a qualitative study of the FGM/C beliefs and opinions of men and women in Kassena-Nankana District of northern Ghana. Data are analyzed from 22 focus group panels of young women, young men, reproductive age women, and male social leaders.
The social systemic influences on FGM/C decision-making are complex. Men represent exogenous sources of social influence on FGM/C decisions through their gender roles in the patriarchal system. As such, their FGM/C decision influence is more prominent for uncircumcised brides at the time of marriage than for FGM/C decisions concerning unmarried adolescents. Women in extended family compounds are relatively prominent as immediate sources of influence on FGM/C decision-making for both brides and adolescents. Circumcised women are the main source of social support for the practice, which they exercise through peer pressure in concert with co-wives. Junior wives entering a polygynous marriage or a large extended family are particularly vulnerable to this pressure. Men are less influential and more open to suggestions of eliminating the practice of FGM/C than women.
Findings attest to the need for social research on ways to involve men in the promotion of FGM/C abandonment, building on their apparent openness to social change. Investigation is also needed on ways to marshal women's social networks for offsetting their extended family familial roles in sustaining FGM/C practices.
在传统的非洲社会中，女性生殖器切割（FGM/C）的做法源于使女性屈从于父权制传统。人们普遍认为，消除这种做法的方法必须侧重于增强妇女权能和改变性别角色。
本文介绍了在加纳北部卡塞纳-南卡纳地区对男性和女性的女性生殖器切割/切割习俗信仰和意见进行的定性研究结果。对 22 个年轻女性、年轻男性、育龄妇女和男性社会领袖的焦点小组进行了数据分析。
对女性生殖器切割/切割决策的社会系统影响是复杂的。男性通过其在父权制体系中的性别角色，代表了对女性生殖器切割/切割决定的外在社会影响源。因此，与未婚青少年的女性生殖器切割/切割决定相比，他们在婚姻时对未割礼新娘的女性生殖器切割/切割决定影响更为突出。在大家庭院落中的女性在对新娘和青少年的女性生殖器切割/切割决策方面，是相对突出的即时影响源。割礼女性是该习俗的主要社会支持来源，她们通过与妯娌合作，在同龄人压力下行使这种支持。进入一夫多妻婚姻或大家庭的年轻妾尤其容易受到这种压力的影响。与女性相比，男性对消除女性生殖器切割/切割做法的影响较小，也更愿意接受消除该做法的建议。
研究结果表明，需要对男性参与促进放弃女性生殖器切割/切割习俗的方式进行社会研究，利用他们对社会变革的明显开放性。还需要调查如何利用女性的社会网络来抵消她们在维持女性生殖器切割/切割习俗方面在大家庭中的作用。
