Harmful traditional practices: female genital mutilation and other practices

Female circumcision is a practice which dated as far back as ancient Egypt and which is still rampant nowadays. The reasons given to justify this are numerous. The preservation of the virginity of the woman until marriage and the respect of the religions and customs of peoples are some of the reasons which make this practice common. This study has allowed us to highlight two key factors in the practice of female circumcision. These are religion and ethnicity. These two factors are also correlated. The Muslim religion has emerged as one in which the proportion of circumcised women is the highest which is not the case among Christians and animists. In the Southern Mande ethnic group, female circumcision is very common. These people are also very much in favor of female circumcision. On the other hand, the Akan people who are predominantly Christian are less likely to circumcise their daughters and have a low prevalence of circumcised females. Although there is a link between religion and the practice of circumcision, the search for reasons to justify this practice has proven otherwise. Thus, circumcision is not tied to religion, but rather to traditions that persist within different ethnic groups.

The feminization of African international migration flows led to an increased presence of women with female genital mutilation (FGM). In Italy as well as other countries the increasing need to have more detailed information on this practice among immigrants leaded researchers to gather primary data in order to investigate topics such as prevalence in emigration, most diffused types of excision, health consequences, related socio-economic factors and attitudes on circumcision of second generation girls. According to this approach the contribute presented here has the aim to assess the determinants of mother-to-daughter transmission of FGM among African immigrants living in Italy by means of a survey including un ad-hoc module. Main results using multilevel analysis techniques indicate that once other factors (including family and community effects) are held constant, covariates like mother education and experience of FGM, family support for FGM, daughters’ year of birth and being born in emigration are strongly associated with the process of mother to daughter transmission of FGM. Strong differences are also observed across communities.

This paper examines two forms of gender-based violence in Mexico, forced sterilization and forced marriage by using two recent surveys: the 2011 National Survey on Household Dynamics and the Survey on Indigenous Women’s Health and Rights 2007. The first part of the paper reviews the concepts of gender-based violence and violence against women. It discusses the relationship among gender, power and violence in the Mexican context and how different actors (family members, and doctors) perpetrate these silenced forms of violence against women: forced sterilization and forced marriage –including selling women. The second section focuses on forced marriage, its prevalence (between 1.79% and 4%) and factors associated are studied. In the third part, sterilization without women’s consent (27%) is examined. The conclusion underscores how gender interacts with ethnicity and socioeconomic status in order to explain these two forms of gender-based violence. The need of further analyses and data are discussed.

Tens of thousands of women in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo have been subjected to sexual violence. Using data from a multi-method qualitative research conducted in 2011, this paper explores attitudes towards survivors of sexual and gender-based violence in eastern DRC and highlights the underlying role of gender norms. Across the study locations, a woman’s dignity and the level of respect she commands depend on her well she performs her roles of mother, cultivator of the land and caretaker of the household. A woman is expected to be respectful, well-behaved, dress appropriately, not be a troublemaker, and not be a “witch”. She must not exhibit any masculine traits such as wearing pants or nitiate sex. Any attempt by the woman to cross the lines of normative expectations can lead to conflict. The woman is also often perceived as an object of pleasure for the man. A woman who has experienced SGBV is often believed to have done something to warrant the action; for example, by crossing the lines of responsibility, acceptable dress code, or decorum. A survivor of SGBV is seen as having brought shame and dishonor to her family. Therefore, a woman that has experienced SGBV is not only regarded as “damaged goods”, she is seen as decreasing the value of her husband and the male members of her family.