FGM/C

This Country Profile Update provides comprehensive information on the most recent trends and data on FGM/C in Nigeria. It includes an analysis of the current political situation, legal frameworks and programmes to make recommendations on how to move towards eradicating the practice. This report serves as an update to 28 Too Many’s 2006 Country Profile. Its purpose is to equip  activists, practitioners, development partners and research organisations with the most up-todate information to inform decision-making on policy and practice in the Nigerian context.
Elections took place in Nigeria in February 2023. Presidential candidate Bola Tinabu, from the governing All Progressives Congress party, was announced as the president-elect on 1 March 2023.
Statistics on the prevalence of FGM/C in Nigeria were compiled through Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) in 2013 and 2018 and a Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) in 2016–2017.
The prevalence of FGM/C in Nigeria appears to be decreasing. In 2013, 24.8% of women aged 15–49 years had been cut, and in 2018 this figure was down to 19.5%. In 2018, 13.7% of women in Nigeria aged 15–19 had undergone FGM/C, as opposed to 31.0% of women aged 45–49.
However, there is some evidence from interviews conducted in Nigeria that at least part of the reported decrease is due to social desirability bias and community self-surveillance of cutting, as a result of which women will be more reluctant to report that they have been cut. It is likely
that the introduction of the Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Act (see below) is one cause. Additionally, over the period 2013 to 2018, a worrying trend emerged among girls (aged 0–14 years), of whom 19.2% had been cut in 2018, as opposed to 16.9% in 2013. Of particular note is
that, among girls whose mothers are uncut, the percentage who have been cut has doubled. This is slightly unusual and a matter of concern. Further research into why this is so would be useful, but in a 2013 report, UNICEF emphasises the problem of a ‘culture of silence’ in Nigeria, in which
there is a significant gap between people’s personal views on FGM/C and their feelings of social obligation to have girls undergo the cut and a lack of agency in the decision.
40.9% of the Nigerian population is under 15 years of age, which represents 87,838,000 young people (42,943,785 female).
The prevalence of FGM/C among girls (19.2% in 2018) means that,
given the current population, more than 8.2 million girls have been cut.
It is important to note that the states where the most women are affected by or are at risk of FGM/C are not necessarily those with the highest prevalence. States with higher population numbers but lower prevalence may have higher numbers of women and girls affected. When
population numbers are used, the priority states change from those with the highest percentages (Imo, Ekiti, Ebonyi, Kaduna, Kwara and Osun) to Lagos, Kaduna, Imo, Kano and Oyo. The increasing prevalence among girls in rural areas is also of concern, given that a significant portion of the
population lives in rural areas.
Historically, Nigeria has followed the opposite trend to other countries where FGM/C is practised.
Cutting has primarily been practised by those in the highest wealth quintiles, those with the most education and those who identify as Christian. However, this is starting to change. The majority of both cut and uncut women do not believe there are any benefits to the practice.
Various data indicate that the major reason for the continuation of cutting in Nigeria is tradition.The most common reason women give for opposing FGM/C is medical opinions against it, although traditional cutters are the primary agents performing FGM/C (on 85.4% of women aged 15–49 and 92.8% of girls aged 0–14). Ethnicity plays a major role in the social and cultural norms of Nigerians and their motivations for continuing practices such as FGM/C. The highest prevalence is among Yoruba (34.7%) and
Igbo (30.7%) women and girls, and the lowest is among Tiv and Igala women and girls (less than 1% each).
The mean age of cutting decreased from 3.1 years in 1999 to 1.7 years in 2018. ‘Cut, flesh removed’ is the most common type of FGM/C performed in Nigeria (on 40.7% of women who have undergone FGM/C), ‘cut, no flesh removed’ the second (9.6%), and ‘sewn closed’ the least (5.6%).
The percentage of women who don’t know what type of cut they experienced increased to 44.1% from 26.3% in 2013.
The data indicate a substantial increase in angurya, a type of cutting that, alongside gishiri, is almost exclusive to Nigeria.
Article 39 of the Nigerian Constitution grants freedom of expression and the freedom to ‘hold opinions and to receive and impart ideas and information without interference.’ In practice, however, reports on the freedom of the press in Nigeria paint a worrying picture about the nature
of information veracity, control and suppression.
A surprisingly low number of both women and men use the internet on a regular basis; thus, anti-FGM/C messages would be better spread through
the most popular media, television and radio. Increasing media infrastructure and distribution would allow Nigerians to be exposed to opposing ideas about FGM/C and information about the risks
and consequences associated with it. Nevertheless, greater access to the media will not be of help if authorities negate trust by continuing to control information and education resources.
Nigeria’s legal system is complex. Both levels of government play roles in the enactment of laws prohibiting FGM/C in Nigeria: although the Federal Government is responsible for passing general laws, the state governments must then adopt and implement those laws in their respective areas.The Constitution’s Article 34(1) provides that every individual is entitled to respect for the dignity of their person and, accordingly, no one ‘shall be subjected to any form of torture, inhuman
or degrading treatment or punishment’. The Federal Government’s action plan against FGM/C was for the period 2013–2017. In December 2021, a new plan was announced, but as at the time of publication it has not been released. The Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Act, which came into force on 25 May 2015, criminalises violence against women and specifically prohibits FGM/C at Clause 6.
However, without mirroring laws in each state, the act is only
effective in the Federal Capital Territory of Abuja. As of October 2022, 32 of the 37 states and territories have passed it. Of those remaining, two states have not yet assented; Lagos and the Ekiti states have, respectively, the Protection Against Domestic Violence and the Gender-Based
Violence Prohibition laws, which contain some of the provisions of the act.
Activists urge more active implementation and enforcement.
Nigeria is moving away from its Sustainable Development Goals. At 130th out of 144 countries, Nigeria is ranked lower on the Gender Equality Index than many of its neighbouring countries.
The indicators of women’s inequality with men in Nigeria are extremely troubling. For example, The maternal mortality ratio has increased from 813 (2015) to 917 deaths per 100,000 live births (2020).Gender-based violence and child marriage are both prevalent. This inequality calls for
gender-transformative approaches to abolishing FGM/C.
There are numerous international and local non-governmental organisations working to eradicate FGM/C, using a variety of strategies including national and regional advocacy, engaging with the ethnic drivers of the practice, addressing patriarchal gender norms that perpetuate
FGM/C, promoting education about FGM/C through digital media and traditional outlets, and engaging with religious leaders. A comprehensive overview of these approaches, with examples from active organisations, is included in this report.
This report calls for the following actions:
▪ focus programmatic response in the states that have the highest estimated numbers of
women and girls affected by FGM/C, which include Lagos, Kaduna, Imo, Kano, Oyo, Osun
and Ondo;
▪ shift the focus of programming to include women in rural areas, those in the lowest wealth
quintiles and those with the lowest levels of formal education, among whom the practice is
increasing;
▪ work with those who serve as protectors of the practice to shift the norms that contribute
to women’s senses of social obligation to cut (this includes mothers, mothers-in-law and
grandmothers, as well as traditional birth attendants);
▪ target adolescent girls and pregnant and breastfeeding women with interventions, to shift
social norms that influence the cutting of daughters at young ages;
▪ promote assenting to the Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Act in all states and
effectively implement it, especially in Kano and other states where there are large estimated
numbers of women and girls affected by FGM/C; and
▪ give urgent attention to the Sustainable Development Goals and reversing the downward
trends in each area, with particular emphases on maternal health and education.

Prevalence: In Benin, the prevalence of FGM in women aged 15-49 is 9.2%. The departments with the highest prevalence are in the north. Of Benin's 12 departments, five have a prevalence of less than 1%

Age: 85.3% of women aged 15-49 who have undergone FGM were cut before the age of 15

Type: 'Flesh removed' is the most common type of FGM practised

Agent: Almost all FGM is carried out by 'traditional agents' (including traditional cutters and birth attendants)

Attitudes: 86.3% of women aged 15-49 believe the practice should not continue

A comprehensive study was undertaken to investigate, explore, and analyse the existence of Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C) in Iran. The time span of this study began in 2005 and ended in 2014. The aim of this study was to provide in-depth data on FGM in Iran and, at the same time, provide the building blocks for a comprehensive program to combat FGM in Iran and bring this issue onto the world's agenda. The methodological approach adopted by this study was primarily participatory due to the sensitivity of the subject matter. Most parts of this research were completed by the end of 2014 and much has been achieved over a decade of studying the subject of FGM in Iran. The study included travelling thousands of kilometers and interviewing over 3,000 women and 1000 men from various areas and social classes, including key role players, community leaders, clerics and religious leaders in order to compile comprehensive data about the practice of FGM in Iran. The findings demonstrate that FGM in some locations is widespread among women and girls (around 60% in some villages of Qeshm Island in Southern province of Hurmozgan, especially in the villages of the four provinces in the northwest, west and south of Iran). FGM was not however practiced in the northern parts of West Azerbaijan where people are Turkish Azri and Kurmanji Kurdish speakers, nor in the Southern parts of Kermanshah and Northern parts of Hormozgan. This research study along with short documentary film has gained global recognition and was launched by the Guardianand BBCon June 4 th , 2015 through their websites. Shortly thereafter it was discussed at a United Nations meeting of the Human Rights Council in Geneva,on June 19 th 2015 at a session on eliminating FGM/C.Reuters also published the analysis of the research and considered it one of the rare contributions in the history of Iran.

We in the English-speaking parts of the world may be aware that life is different in various ways beyond our experience, but little is known by most of us about how family and domestic matters are conducted in the Middle East.  I was the adviser and editor for the English language version of A House with Open Door, a book about ‘informal’ or ‘white’ marriage, written by the British-Iranian anthropologist Kameel Ahmady.
In my editorial capacity I learned a lot about a culture and customs very different from my own,  where the focus is on upholding what are considered to be Shi’a Islamic constraints and requirements in regard to marriage.

Below is the Foreword I wrote for that book.

ISBN: 978-1-914165-21-41

'A House with Open Door', the recent book by British-Iranian anthropologist Kameel Ahmady, provides an important source of information about Islamic legal and socio-economic modes of ‘marriage’ in Iran (and other Islamic states).  Marriages may endure from one hour to 99 years, a man may have several wives, and children may be contracted into matrimony. The age at which adult Iranians formally marry by informed mutual consent is rising for largely economic reasons but many tensions exist within this arrangement, and there are numerous other versions of ‘marriage’, some to very young girls and all of them based on patriarchal power and interests. Nor are things much different in places like Pakistan or, in some respects, other countries in that general region, such as Egypt.

In all these locations – and in many other corners even of the Western world – child marriage, often linked to female genital mutilation (FGM), is one of the greatest harms which may be inflicted on girls and women.

Sometimes we have to think beyond the specific, and examine the wider contexts of our lives.  The bigger picture is what has been bothering me for a long while, as we try to defend the rights of children and vulnerable adults in a currently very challenging global setting.  Our human rights, our health and even the well-being of the planet itself are currently threatened by the increasingly careless way that some first world states politicians at all levels are disrespecting, even disregarding,  democracy.

Climate change? Covid-19? Communities? Seemingly irrelevant to the powerful (and usually male) autocrats who lay claim to be our political leaders. Often, they rely on what a US press secretary once termed ‘alternative facts‘. But these politicians are elected by us, or at least by our fellow citizens.

In 'The Guardian' of 3 November 2020 the columnist Zoe Williams rightly reminds us that the refocusing of politics lies in the hand of voters.  How, she asks, can we democratically resist populism, which is the route to power of many autocrats and worse?

A review of three books:

* Maria Frederika Malmstrὅm The Politics of Female Circumcision in Egypt: Gender, Sexuality and the Construction of Identity (2016) I.B. Tauris, London and New York : 244 pp

* Heidi Morrison Childhood and Colonial Modernity in Egypt (2015) Palgrave Macmillan, London and New York : 176 pp

* Nefissa Naguib Nurturing Masculinities: Men, Food and Family in Contemporary Egypt (2015) University of Texas Press, Austin TX : 144 pp

In 2018 I wrote a review of three books on Egyptian gender politics for the journal Left History.  This essay has just now been published in Vol. 22, No. 1 (2018).  In my review I seek to understand the rationales by which female genital mutilation (FGM) continues in Egypt in a context where it seems both that many men strive to maintain patriarchy and also to demonstrate their nurturing intent, and that women try to reconcile their ‘modern’ and traditional roles. I am also critical in that field researchers did not challenge post-interview some respondents’ beliefs that FGM is necessary and harmless.

I was pleased in October 2014 to write a Polemic about female genital mutilation (FGM) for the Buehler Center for Health Policy and Economics, Northwestern University, Chicago, with which I have connections as an Adjunct Professor.

The format of the piece was questions / statements and responses.  No doubt over time, as we unpick the issues further, the precise interrogation of FGM will change, but I hope nonetheless this Polemic will remain of interest. Here it is….

Time-honoured divides are sometimes so embedded that reconciliation between different perspectives looks to be impossible.

Female genital mutilation (FGM) provides one example of this divide, both because of the nature of the practice itself – anything which concerns sex or gendered beliefs can become a minefield - and because of the diametrically opposing perspectives held by its traditional proponents and those who in modern times have sought to eradicate it (cont....)

KAMEEL AHMADY writes: Although efforts to eradicate a thousand-year-old custom are challenged by the very tenacity – and increasingly recognized ubiquity – of the practice, Female Genital Mutilation is an issue of urgency to feminists, human rights campaigners and social activists as well as international organizations such as UNICEF and many responsible governments determined to end it. I join them. ... This research [began] when I returned from Europe after a prolonged absence to my birthplace, Iranian Kurdistan, to learn more about FGM. For several years I had worked in Africa with humanitarian relief NGOs and observed UN projects to combat excision in countries like Egypt, Somalia, Kenya and Sudan. Remembering hushed tones from my childhood suggesting that FGM -- locally called sunnet -- existed in some parts of Iranian Kurdistan, I decided to conduct some preliminary research beginning with my own family and close relatives. Imagine my shock when uncovering evidence that FGM had long existed in areas of Mukriyan and that my grandmothers, mother and sister had all endured it. In fact, within Iran, a heavy omerta hangs over the practice. Only a limited number of people from non-FGM-practicing provinces know of its concentration within some regions of the country. Being male and having a ‘non-traditional’ background in the sense that I lived abroad, my detailed questions about this extremely sensitive topic—the cutting of women’s ‘private parts’— created resistance and bewilderment. Some local residents, especially men, refused to take me seriously, while others, including a number of my own relatives, opined that this subject was unworthy of an educated male’s attention. Researching FGM was deemed not a “manly” job. Here I would like to thank my late father who, despite the pressure of neighbors’ viewpoints and from time to time also the government’s, supported me throughout.

The scope of the project gradually extended into regions of Iran beyond my home, and in this journey, I enjoyed assistance in fieldwork as well as in analysis and assembly of data.

While focused most sharply on FGM-affected areas in the western part of the country, namely West Azerbaijan, Kurdistan and Kermanshah provinces, and some areas in southern Iran, that is, Hormozgan province and its islands, you will find a comprehensive overview of the custom’s prevalence throughout the entire country. (A 2017 unedited update is available electronically at http://kameelahmady.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/THE-CHANGING-PARADIGMS-OF-FGMC-WEB.pdf.)

ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 398138637X

*How do we best blend the perspectives of activist-FGM survivors and academic researchers?
*Does FGM cause traumatised communities?
*Is it time to drop the term 'cutting'?
*Is the eradication of foot-binding comparable to eradicating FGM?

The 2nd International Academic Seminar on FGM was an excellent opportunity to exchange information, meet new colleagues and consolidate old friendships.  For these reasons alone attendance was well worthwhile, but for me this two day meeting on 8 and 9 June 2017 also prompted afresh some considerations around the fundamentals of the challenge to #EndFGM:

And so I share below some notes on the FGM knowledge gaps and praxis issues with which I think we are all confronted.  Your thoughts on my provisional analysis will be warmly welcomed.
https://hilaryburrage.com/2017/06/10/brussels-places-research-on-female-genital-mutilation-centre-stage/