Coll Carolina V N, Santos Thiago M, Wendt Andrea, Hellwig Franciele, Ewerling Fernanda, Barros Aluisio J D
International Center for Equity in Health, Federal University of Pelotas, Pelotas, Brazil.
Postgraduate Program in Epidemiology, Federal University of Pelotas, Pelotas, Brazil.
Front Sociol. 2022 Jan 14;6:685329. doi: 10.3389/fsoc.2021.685329. eCollection 2021.
Women's empowerment may play a role in shaping attitudes towards female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) practices. We aimed to investigate how empowerment may affect women's intention to perpetuate FGM/C and the practice of FGM/C on their daughters in African countries. We used data from Demographic and Health Surveys carried out from 2010 to 2018. The countries included in our study were Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad, Côte d´Ivoire, Ethiopia, Guinea, Kenya, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, and Togo. This study included 77,191 women aged 15-49 years with at least one daughter between zero and 14 years of age. The proportion of women who reported having at least one daughter who had undergone FGM/C as well as the mother's opinion towards FGM/C continuation were stratified by empowerment levels in three different domains (decision-making, attitude to violence, and social independence) for each country. We also performed double stratification to investigate how the interaction between both indicators would affect daughter's FGM/C. The prevalence of women who had at least one daughter who had undergone FGM/C was consistently higher among low empowered women. Tanzania, Benin, and Togo were exceptions for which no differences in having at least one daughter subjected to FGM/C was found for any of the three domains of women's empowerment. In most countries, the double stratification pointed to a lower proportion of daughters' FGM/C among women who reported being opposed to the continuation of FGM/C and had a high empowerment level while a higher proportion was observed among women who reported being in favor of the continuation of FGM/C and had a low empowerment level. This pattern was particularly evident for the social independence domain of empowerment. In a few countries, however, a higher empowerment level coupled to a favorable opinion towards FGM/C was related to a higher proportion of daughters' FGM/C. Women's empowerment and opinion towards FGM/C seems to be important factors related to the practice of FGM/C in daughters. Strategies to improve women's empowerment combined with shifts in the wider norms that support FGM/C may be important for achieving significant reductions in the practice.
妇女赋权可能在塑造对女性生殖器切割习俗的态度方面发挥作用。我们旨在调查赋权如何影响非洲国家妇女使女性生殖器切割习俗永久化的意愿以及对其女儿实施女性生殖器切割习俗的行为。我们使用了2010年至2018年进行的人口与健康调查的数据。我们研究纳入的国家有贝宁、布基纳法索、乍得、科特迪瓦、埃塞俄比亚、几内亚、肯尼亚、马里、尼日利亚、塞内加尔、坦桑尼亚和多哥。本研究纳入了77191名年龄在15至49岁之间且至少有一个年龄在0至14岁之间女儿的妇女。报告至少有一个女儿接受过女性生殖器切割习俗的妇女比例以及母亲对继续实施女性生殖器切割习俗的看法，按每个国家在三个不同领域（决策、对暴力的态度和社会独立性）的赋权水平进行分层。我们还进行了双重分层，以调查这两个指标之间的相互作用如何影响女儿的女性生殖器切割习俗。在赋权水平低的妇女中，至少有一个女儿接受过女性生殖器切割习俗的妇女比例一直较高。坦桑尼亚、贝宁和多哥是例外，在这三个国家，妇女赋权的任何一个领域中，在是否至少有一个女儿接受女性生殖器切割习俗方面均未发现差异。在大多数国家，双重分层表明，报告反对继续实施女性生殖器切割习俗且赋权水平高的妇女中，女儿接受女性生殖器切割习俗的比例较低，而报告赞成继续实施女性生殖器切割习俗且赋权水平低的妇女中，这一比例较高。这种模式在赋权的社会独立性领域尤为明显。然而，在一些国家，较高的赋权水平加上对女性生殖器切割习俗的支持态度与女儿接受女性生殖器切割习俗的较高比例相关。妇女赋权以及对女性生殖器切割习俗的看法似乎是与女儿是否接受女性生殖器切割习俗相关的重要因素。结合支持女性生殖器切割习俗的更广泛规范的转变来提高妇女赋权的策略，对于大幅减少这种习俗的实施可能很重要。
