Female Genital Circumcision Social Indicators That Influence Attitudes On Abandonment Of Fgc In Nigeria

More than 100 million girls and women worldwide have undergone female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) and more than three million girls are at risk for cutting each year on the African continent alone (Population Reference Bureau 2009). The practice is recognized internationally as a violation of the human rights of girls and women, and constitutes an extreme form of discrimination against women. Research has shown that reasons given for continuing the practice of FGC vary widely across cultural and social contexts. Little research has been conducted towards understanding and predicting attitudes toward FGC, which in turn can help inform program policy in the hopes of better understanding the socio-cultural complexities inherent in the practice of FGC. This study suggests that with increased levels of education support for FGC decreases. Additionally, access to media was shown to have a significant impact on support for the practice. This study found that men and women experience and are influenced by media in different ways. Media based abandonment programs must acknowledge the gender gap in media access and direct their programs towards the most appropriate outlet for the target group. This study‟s most significant finding is that the strongest predictor of a woman‟s attitude towards FGC is whether she herself has undergone the procedure. Women who have undergone FGC will likely support the continuation of the practice. Encouraging these women to forgo the practice and let their daughters experience their bodies differently from their mothers is the greatest challenge abandonment programs face