Hegemonic Masculinity Attitudes Toward Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting Among a Sample of College Students in Northern and Southern Sierra Leone

Abstract

Introduction: Female genital mutilation or cutting (FGM/C) is a public health problem. Approximately three million women and girls undergo FGM/C every year, worldwide. The purpose of the study was to assess the influence of education on hegemonic masculinity attitudes between male and female students and whether parental education differentiated the groups. Method: A cross-section design was used. Data were collected through a survey response from 338 students in May 2017. The data were analyzed using chi-square and correlational tests. Results: Education did not change the attitudes of students toward FGM/C (χ² = 3.64, p = .16); however, parental education had an influence on both male and female students’ attitudes toward FGM/C. Discussion: The study suggests that education alone may not be sufficient to end FGM/C practice. A comprehensive community-led strategy incorporating culturally congruent health care to involve multiple parties of health professionals, religious leaders, government, and policy makers may be needed to address the problem.

Keywords

female genital mutilation female cutting Sierra Leone college students education parents

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Alsop

Fitzsimons

Lennon

(2002). Theorizing gender: An introduction. Malden, MA: Blackwell.

Arafa

A. E.

Elbahrawe

R. S.

Shawky

S. M.

Abbas

A. M.

(2018). Epidemiological and gynecological correlates with female genital mutilation among Beni-Suef university students; cross sectional study. Middle East Fertility Society Journal, 23, 184-188. doi:10.1016/j.mefs.2017.11.005

Asekun-Olarinmoye

E. O.

Amusan

O. A.

(2008). The impact of health education on attitudes towards female genital mutilation (FGM) in a rural Nigerian community. European Journal of Contraception & Reproductive Health Care, 13, 289-297. doi:10.1080/13625180802075174

Barstow

D. G.

(1999). Female genital mutilation: The penultimate gender abuse. Child Abuse & Neglect, 23, 501-510. doi:10.1016/S0145-2134(99)00017-4

Berg

R. C.

Denison

(2012). Does female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) affect women’s sexual functioning? A systematic review of the sexual consequences of FGM/C. Sexuality Research and Social Policy, 9, 41-56. doi:10.1007/s13178-011-0048-z

Bjälkander

Grant

D. S.

Berggren

Bathija

Almroth

(2013). Female genital mutilation in Sierra Leone: Forms, reliability of reported status, and accuracy of related demographic and health survey questions. Obstetrics and Gynecology International, 2013, 680926. doi:10.1155/2013/680926

Bogale

Markos

Kaso

(2014). Prevalence of female genital mutilation and its effect on women’s health in bale zone, Ethiopia: A cross-sectional study. BMC Public Health, 14, 1076. doi:10.1186/1471-2458-14-1076

Boyle

E. H.

McMorris

B. J.

Gomez

(2002). Local conformity to international norms: The case of female genital cutting. International Sociology, 17, 5-33. doi:10.1177/0268580902017001001

Braddy

C. M.

Files

J. A.

(2007). Female genital mutilation: Cultural awareness and clinical considerations. Journal of Midwifery & Women’s Health, 52, 158-163. doi:10.1016/j.jmwh.2006.11.001

10.

Caldwell

Orubuloye

Caldwell

(2000). Female genital mutilation: Conditions of decline. Population Research and Policy Review, 19, 233-254. doi:1026511611930

11.

Canada–Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada [Canada-IRBC]. (2009). Sierra Leone: The practice of female genital mutilation (FGM); the government’s position with respect to the practice; consequences of refusing to become an FGM practitioner in Bondo society, specifically, if a daughter of a practitioner refuses to succeed her mother. Retrieved from http://www.refworld.org/docid/4b20f02bc.html

12.

Chege

Church

K. R.

Igras

Muteshi-Strachan

(2004). Testing the effectiveness of integrating community-based approaches for encouraging abandonment of female genital cutting into CARE’s reproductive health programs in Ethiopia and Kenya. Washington, DC: Population Council.

13.

Cohen

(1992). A power primer. Psychological Bulletin, 112(1), 155-159.

14.

Connell

R. W.

(1987). Gender and power. Cambridge, England: Polity Press.

15.

Connell

R. W.

(2005). Masculinities. Cambridge, England: Polity Press.

16.

Dalal

Kalmatayeva

Mandal

Ussatayeva

Lee

M. S.

Biswas

(2018). Adolescent girls’ attitudes toward female genital mutilation: A study in seven African countries. F1000Research, 7, 343. doi:10.12688/f1000research.14142.1

17.

Devi

(2018). FGM in Sierra Leone. Lancet, 391, 415. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(18)30189-2

18.

Diouf

Nour

(2013). Female genital cutting and HIV transmission: Is there an association? American Journal of Reproductive Immunology, 69(Suppl. 1), 45-50. doi:10.1111/aji.12028

19.

Dorkenoo

Elsworthy

(1992). Female genital mutilation: Proposals for change. London, England: Minority Rights.

20.

Easton

Monkman

Miles

(2003). Social policy from the bottom up: Abandoning FGC in sub-Saharan Africa. Development in Practice, 13, 445-458. doi:10.1080/0961452032000125839

21.

El Saadawi

. (1980). The hidden face of Eve: Women in the Arab world. New York, NY: Zed Books.

22.

Fieldman-Jakobs

Cliffton

(2014). Female genital mutilation/cutting: Data and trends update, 2014. Washington, DC: Population Reference Bureau.

23.

Hayford

R. S.

(2005). Conformity and change: Community effects on female genital cutting in Kenya. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 46, 121-140. doi:10.1177/002214650504600201

24.

Hearn

(2004). From hegemonic masculinity to the hegemony of men. Feminist Theory, 5, 49-72. doi:10.1177/1464700104040813

25.

Hepburn

(2003). An introduction to critical social psychology. London, England: Sage.

26.

Hernlund

Shell-Duncan

(2007). Transcultural bodies: Female genital cutting in global context. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.

27.

Hosken

P. F.

(1979). The Hosken report: Genital/sexual mutilation of females. Medical Anthropology Newsletter, 11(1),19-20.

28.

Iavazzo

Sardi

Gkegkes

(2013). Female genital mutilation and infections: A systematic review of the clinical evidence. Archives of Gynecology and Obstetrics, 287, 1137-1149. doi:10.1007/s00404-012-2708-5

29.

Jewkes

Flood

Lang

(2015). From work with men and boys to changes of social norms and reduction of inequities in gender relations: A conceptual shift in prevention of violence against women and girls. Lancet, 385, 1580-1589.

30.

Kara

(2016). Leveraging education to end female genital mutilation/cutting worldwide. Retrieved from https://www.icrw.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/ICRW-WGF-Leveraging-Education-to-End-FGMC-Worldwide-November-2016-FINAL.pdf

31.

Keita

Blankhart

(2001). Community-based survey on female genital excision in Faranah district, Guinea. Reproductive Health Matters, 9(18), 135-142. doi:10.1016/S0968-8080(01)90100-4

32.

Khazan

(2015). Why some women choose to get circumcised. The Atlantic. Retrieved from https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2015/04/female-genital-mutilation-cutting-anthropologist/389640/

33.

Koriech

(2005). “Other” bodies: Western feminism, race, and representation in female circumcision discourse. In Nnaemeka

(Ed.), Female circumcision and the politics of knowledge: African women in imperialist discourse (pp. 111-134). Westport, CT: Praeger.

34.

Mgbako

Saxena

Cave

Farjad

Shin

(2010). Penetrating the silence in Sierra Leone: A blueprint for the eradication of female genital mutilation. Harvard Human Rights Journal, 23, 111-140.

35.

Mitike

Deressa

(2009). Prevalence and associated factors of female genital mutilation among Somali refugees in eastern Ethiopia: A cross-sectional study. BMC Public Health, 9, 264. doi:10.1186/1471-2458-9-264

36.

Mohamed

(2016). Egyptian women’s perspectives on female genital mutilation (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of Pittsburg, PA.

37.

Morrell

Jewkes

Lindegger

. (2012). Hegemonic masculinity/masculanities in South Africa: Culture, power and gender politics. Men and Masculinities, 15, 11-30.

38.

Nnaemeka

(2005). Female circumcision and the politics of knowledge: African women in imperialist discourses. Westport, CT: Praeger.

39.

Nutbeam

(1998). Health promotion glossary. Health Promotion International, 1, 113-127. Retrieved from https://www.who.int/healthpromotion/conferences/7gchp/track2/en/

40.

Olaniran

A. A.

(2013). The relationship between female genital mutilation and HIV transmission in sub-Saharan Africa. African Journal of Reproductive Health/La Revue Africaine De La Santé Reproductive, 17, 156-160.

41.

Ombati

(2017). Gender inequality in education in sub-Saharan Africa. Journal of Women’s Entrepreneurship and Education, 2012, 114-136. doi:10.1177/002190969603100306

42.

Reisel

Creighton

S. M.

(2014). Long term health consequences of female genital mutilation (FGM). Maturitas, 80, 48-51. doi:10.1016/j.maturitas.2014.10.009

43.

Rymer

O’Flynn

(2013). Female genital mutilation: Everyone’s problem. British Journal of General Practice, 63, 515-516. doi:10.3399/bjgp13X673586

44.

Sagna

M. L.

(2014). Gender differences in support for the discontinuation of female genital cutting in Sierra Leone. Culture, Health & Sexuality, 16, 603-619. doi:10.1080/13691058.2014.896474

45.

Satti

Elmusharaf

Bedri

Idris

Hashim

M. S. K.

Suliman

G. I.

Almroth

(2006). Prevalence and determinants of the practice of genital mutilation of girls in Khartoum, Sudan. Annals of Tropical Paediatrics: International Child Health, 26, 303-310. doi:10.1179/146532806X152827

46.

Shell-Duncan

Herniund

(2006). Are there “stages of change” in the practice of female genital cutting? Qualitative research findings from Senegal and the Gambia. African Journal of Reproductive Health, 10(2), 57-71. doi:10.2307/30032459

47.

Toubia

(1993). Female genital mutilation. A call for global action. New York, NY: Women Link.

48.

U.K. Department of Health. (2009). Multi-agency practice guidelines: Female genital mutilation. Retrieved from https://www.health-ni.gov.uk/publications/multi-agency-practice-guidelines-female-genital-mutilation-0

49.

United Nations. (2018). Statement by the United Nations in Sierra Leone on the international day of zero tolerance for female genital mutilation. Retrieved from https://sl.one.un.org/2017/02/06/statement-by-the-united-nations-in-sierra-leone-on-the-international-day-of-zero-tolerance-for-female-genital-mutilation/

50.

United Nations Children’s Fund. (2005). Female genital mutilation/cutting. Retrieved from https://www.unicef.org/gender/files/FGM-C_Statisitics.pdf

51.

United Nations Children’s Fund. (2010). Sierra Leone—Multiple indicator cluster survey. Retrieved from https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/MICS4_SierraLeone_2010_FinalReport.pdf

52.

Walker

Parmar

(1996). Warrior marks: Female genital mutilation and the sexual blinding of women. San Diego, CA: Harcourt Brace.

53.

World Health Organization. (2018). Female genital mutilation. Retrieved from http://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/female-genital-mutilation

54.

Yoder

P. S.

Wang

Johansen

(2013). Estimates of female genital mutilation/cutting in 27 African countries and Yemen. Studies in Family Planning, 44, 189-204. doi:10.1111/j.1728-4465.2013.00352.x

55.

Yount

M. K.

(2002). Like mother, like daughter? Female genital cutting in Minya, Egypt. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 43, 336-358.