Results
The data shows a positive correlation, or connection, between the belief that FGM/C is a religious requirement and the belief that FGM/C should continue.
Table 4.1. Data extracted from the DHS.
Country | Survey | National FGM/C prevalence | Percentage of women who believe FGM/C is a religious requirement | Percentage of women who believe FGM/C should continue |
Benin | 2011–12 DHS | 7.3 | 4.5 | 2.1 |
Burkina Faso | 2021 DHS | 56.1 | 13.4 | 8.3 |
Cameroon | 2004 DHS | 1.4 | 8.1 | 6.6 |
Chad | 2014–15 DHS | 38.4 | 30.0 | 29.1 |
Cote d’Ivoire | 2011–12 DHS | 38.2 | 19.4 | 13.8 |
Egypt | 2014 DHS | 92.3 | 51.7 | 57.8 |
Eritrea | 2002 DHS | 88.7 | 60.1 | 48.8 |
Ethiopia | 2016 DHS | 65.2 | 23.6 | 17.5 |
Gambia | 2019–20 DHS | 72.6 | 53.4 | 45.7 |
Guinea | 2018 DHS | 94.5 | 55.8 | 65.4 |
Kenya | 2022 DHS | 14.8 | 3.3 | 4.3 |
Mali | 2018 DHS | 88.6 | 70.0 | 75.8 |
Mauritania | 2019–21 DHS | 63.9 | 35.0 | 38.4 |
Niger | 2012 DHS | 2.0 | 5.4 | 5.6 |
Nigeria | 2018 DHS | 19.5 | 16.6 | 23.1 |
Senegal | 2023 DHS | 20.1 | 14.5 | 12.9 |
Sierra Leone | 2019 DHS | 83 | 42.5 | 57.0 |
Somalia | 2020 SHDS | 99.2 | 72.0 | 76.4 |
Tanzania | 2022 DHS | 8.2 | 1.4 | 1.3 |
Togo | 2013–14 DHS | 4.7 | 7.2 | 1.4 |
Note: The numbers of each table or figure reflect the chapter number (in this case 4) followed by the sequential number of each table or figure in the chapter.
Correlation between preference for the continuation of FGM/C and perceptions of its religious requirement
Table 4.2. Calculated variables.
Country | Survey | National FGM/C prevalence (%) | Proportion of cut women who believe FGM/C is a religious requirement1 Calculated by dividing the percentage who believe FGM/C is a religious requirement (r) by the prevalence (p). | Proportion of cut women who think FGM/C should continue2 Calculated by dividing the percentage who believe FGM/C should continue (a) by the prevalence (p). |
Benin | 2011–12 DHS | 7.3 | 0.62 | 0.29 |
Burkina Faso | 2021 DHS | 56.1 | 0.24 | 0.15 |
Cameroon | 2004 DHS | 1.4 | 1.00 | 1.00 |
Chad | 2014–15 DHS | 38.4 | 0.78 | 0.76 |
Cote d’Ivoire | 2011–12 DHS | 38.2 | 0.51 | 0.36 |
Egypt | 2014 DHS | 92.3 | 0.56 | 0.63 |
Eritrea | 2002 DHS | 88.7 | 0.68 | 0.55 |
Ethiopia | 2016 DHS | 65.2 | 0.36 | 0.27 |
Gambia | 2019–20 DHS | 72.6 | 0.74 | 0.63 |
Guinea | 2018 DHS | 94.5 | 0.59 | 0.69 |
Kenya | 2022 DHS | 14.8 | 0.22 | 0.29 |
Mali | 2018 DHS | 88.6 | 0.79 | 0.86 |
Mauritania | 2019–21 DHS | 63.9 | 0.55 | 0.60 |
Niger | 2012 DHS | 2.0 | 1.00 | 1.00 |
Nigeria | 2018 DHS | 19.5 | 0.85 | 1.00 |
Senegal | 2023 DHS | 20.1 | 0.72 | 0.64 |
Sierra Leone | 2019 DHS | 83.0 | 0.51 | 0.69 |
Somalia | 2020 SHDS | 99.2 | 0.73 | 0.77 |
Tanzania | 2022 DHS | 8.2 | 0.17 | 0.16 |
Togo | 2013–14 DHS | 4.7 | 1.00 | 0.30 |
~
Figure 4.1. Scatter graph of the calculated variables as shown in Table 14.2.
Dominant religion of the practising community and theological framing of the practice within each context
The data presented in the tables above demonstrate a correlation between the belief that FGM/C is a religious requirement and the belief that the practice should continue.
The twenty countries in this analysis fall broadly into three clusters:
FGM/C is not seen as a religious requirement, and there is a clear belief that it should not be continued. This cluster includes Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, and Burkina Faso.
FGM/C is viewed as a religious requirement, and the majority of the practising community believe it should continue. This cluster includes Cameroon, Nigeria, Niger, Mali, Guinea, Senegal, Sierra Leone, The Gambia, Mauritania, Chad, Egypt, Somalia, and Eritrea.
FGM/C is seen as a religious requirement, but the link between this belief and the view that the practice should continue is unclear. This cluster includes Cote d’Ivoire, Benin, and Togo.
The table below shows the dominant religion in each of the twenty countries.
Table 4.3. National faith background, in percentages.
Country | FGM/C prevalence | Christian | Muslim | Other |
Cameroon | 1.4 | 70.3 | 18.3 | 11.4 |
Chad | 38.4 | 40.6 | 55.3 | 4.1 |
Egypt | 92.3 | 5.1 | 94.9 | |
Eritrea | 88.7 | 62.9 | 36.6 | 0.5 |
Gambia | 72.6 | 4.5 | 95.1 | 0.4 |
Guinea | 94.5 | 10.9 | 84.4 | 4.7 |
Mali | 88.6 | 2.4 | 97.6 | |
Mauritania | 63.9 | 0.3 | 99.1 | 0.6 |
Niger | 2.0 | 0.8 | 98.4 | 0.8 |
Nigeria | 19.5 | 49.3 | 48.8 | 1.9 |
Senegal | 20.1 | 3.6 | 96.4 | |
Sierra Leone | 83.0 | 20.9 | 78.0 | 1.1 |
Somalia | 99.2 | 0.1 | 99.8 | 0.1 |
Source: Created by the authors using data from 2002–23.
The analysis above suggests that those who consider FGM/C to be a religious requirement are predominantly Muslim (Liu 2014). However, as the analysis also demonstrates, not all followers of the Muslim faith view FGM/C as a religious requirement. This belief is more common among certain schools of thought within Islam, and cannot be associated with the religion as a whole.
There are four major schools of jurisprudence in Sunni Islam: Hanafi, Hanbali, Maliki, and Shafi’i. ‘The various schools of Islamic jurisprudence have held differing views on the practice [of FGM], including as to whether the state can force a Muslim to submit to circumcision, or can prohibit the practice all together.’
3 Wodon 2015:85.[T]he Hanafi view is broadly that FGC is optional (sunna), which means that those who practice it will be rewarded, but it is also not a sin not to practice it. The Maliki view holds that circumcision is mandatory for men and optional for women. The Shafi’i view holds that it is mandatory for both sexes.
4 Ibid.Shafi’i jurisprudence is significant in five of the countries under review in this study – Somalia, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, and Tanzania. While only one of those countries is predominantly Muslim, almost all the practising Muslim communities in four of the five countries are ethnically Somali and, within that community, the practice is viewed as obligatory. It should be noted that the Shafi’i school of thought is dominant in other parts of the world (Malaysia, Indonesia, and Iraqi Kurdistan), where the belief that FGM/C is a requirement of religion is also common.