@article{ref1,
title="Women's empowerment as it relates to attitudes towards and practice of female genital mutilation/cutting of daughters: an ecological analysis of demographic and health surveys from 12 African countries",
journal="Front. Sociol.",
year="2021",
author="Coll, Carolina V. N. and Santos, Thiago M. and Wendt, Andrea and Hellwig, Franciele and Ewerling, Fernanda and Barros, Aluísio J. D.",
volume="6",
number="",
pages="e685329-e685329",
abstract="BACKGROUND: 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. <br><br>MATERIALS AND METHODS: 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. <br><br>RESULTS: 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. <br><br>CONCLUSION: 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.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="2297-7775",
doi="10.3389/fsoc.2021.685329",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fsoc.2021.685329"
}