IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/iza/izawol/journly2016n282.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Migration and female genital mutilation

Author

Listed:
  • Sandrine Mesplé-Somps

    (Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD), Université Paris-Dauphine, PSL Research University, LEDa, UMR DIAL, France)

Abstract

More than 100 million women and girls in the world have had their genitals cut for cultural, religious, or other non-medical reasons. Even though international organizations condemn female genital mutilation (FGM), or cutting, as a violation of human rights, and most nations have banned it, it remains prevalent in many African countries, and is slow to decline. This persistence raises questions about the effectiveness of international and national laws prohibiting the practice as well as the potential role of returning migrants in changing embedded cultural norms. Does migration change migrants’ opinions and attitudes to this custom? If so, do they transfer the new norms to their origin countries?

Suggested Citation

  • Sandrine Mesplé-Somps, 2016. "Migration and female genital mutilation," IZA World of Labor, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), pages 282-282, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izawol:journl:y:2016:n:282
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://wol.iza.org/articles/migration-and-female-genital-mutilation-1.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: http://wol.iza.org/articles/migration-and-female-genital-mutilation
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Rigmor C Berg & Eva Denison, 2012. "Interventions to reduce the prevalence of female genital mutilation/cutting in African countries," Campbell Systematic Reviews, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 8(1), pages 1-155.
    2. Toman Barsbai & Hillel Rapoport & Andreas Steinmayr & Christoph Trebesch, 2017. "The Effect of Labor Migration on the Diffusion of Democracy: Evidence from a Former Soviet Republic," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 9(3), pages 36-69, July.
    3. Bertoli, Simone & Marchetta, Francesca, 2015. "Bringing It All Back Home – Return Migration and Fertility Choices," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 27-40.
    4. Chauvet, Lisa & Mercier, Marion, 2014. "Do return migrants transfer political norms to their origin country? Evidence from Mali," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(3), pages 630-651.
    5. Antonio Spilimbergo, 2009. "Democracy and Foreign Education," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 99(1), pages 528-543, March.
    6. repec:dau:papers:123456789/12585 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Christopher J. Coyne* & Rachel L. Coyne, 2014. "The identity economics of female genital mutilation," Journal of Developing Areas, Tennessee State University, College of Business, vol. 48(2), pages 137-152, April-Jun.
    8. Pfutze, Tobias, 2012. "Does migration promote democratization? Evidence from the Mexican transition," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(2), pages 159-175.
    9. Idrissa Diabata & Sandrine Mesplé-Somps, 2014. "Female Genital Mutilation and Migration in Mali: Do Migrants Transfer Social Norms?," Working Papers 15-01e, Princeton University, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Center for Migration and Development..
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Artjoms Ivlevs & Roswitha M. King, 2014. "Emigration, remittances and corruption experience of those staying behind," Working Papers 20141411, Department of Accounting, Economics and Finance, Bristol Business School, University of the West of England, Bristol.
    2. Toman Barsbai & Hillel Rapoport & Andreas Steinmayr & Christoph Trebesch, 2017. "The Effect of Labor Migration on the Diffusion of Democracy: Evidence from a Former Soviet Republic," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 9(3), pages 36-69, July.
    3. Batista, Catia & Seither, Julia & Vicente, Pedro C., 2019. "Do migrant social networks shape political attitudes and behavior at home?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 328-343.
    4. Idrissa Diabate & Sandrine Mesplé-Somps, 2014. "Female genital mutilation and migration in Mali. Do migrants transfer social norms?," Working Papers DT/2014/16, DIAL (Développement, Institutions et Mondialisation).
    5. Idrissa Diabate & Sandrine Mesplé-Somps, 2014. "Female genital mutilation and migration in Mali. Do migrants transfer social norms?," Working Papers DT/2014/16, DIAL (Développement, Institutions et Mondialisation).
    6. Idrissa Diabate & Sandrine Mesplé-Somps, 2019. "Female genital mutilation and migration in Mali: do return migrants transfer social norms?," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 32(4), pages 1125-1170, October.
    7. Jackline Wahba & Ishac Diwan & Michele Tuccio, 2017. "Diaspora Networks as a Bridge between Civilizations," Working Papers 1094, Economic Research Forum, revised 05 Nov 2017.
    8. Tuccio, Michele & Wahba, Jackline & Hamdouch, Bachir, 2016. "International Migration: Driver of Political and Social Change?," IZA Discussion Papers 9794, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    9. Tuccio, Michele & Wahba, Jackline, 2020. "Social Remittances," GLO Discussion Paper Series 609, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    10. Michele Tuccio & Jackline Wahba & Bachir Hamdouch, 2019. "International migration as a driver of political and social change: evidence from Morocco," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 32(4), pages 1171-1203, October.
    11. Shikha Silwal, 2017. "On peace and development economics," Economics of Peace and Security Journal, EPS Publishing, vol. 12(2), pages 5-9, October.
    12. Thierry Baudassé & Rémi Bazillier & Ismaël Issifou, 2018. "Migration And Institutions: Exit And Voice (From Abroad)?," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(3), pages 727-766, July.
    13. Riccardo Turati, 2025. "Networks abroad and culture: global individual-level evidence," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 38(1), pages 1-42, March.
    14. Fabio Mariani & Marion Mercier & Thierry Verdier, 2018. "Diasporas and conflict," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 18(4), pages 761-793.
    15. Mercier, Marion, 2016. "The return of the prodigy son: Do return migrants make better leaders?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 76-91.
    16. Khandker Wahedur Rahman, 2023. "International migration and the religious schooling of children in the home country: evidence from Bangladesh," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 36(3), pages 1963-2005, July.
    17. Catia Batista & Julia Seither & Pedro C. Vicente, 2017. "Migration, political institutions, and social networks," NOVAFRICA Working Paper Series wp1701, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Nova School of Business and Economics, NOVAFRICA.
    18. Lisa Sofie Höckel & Manuel Santos Silva & Tobias Stöhr, 2018. "Can Parental Migration Reduce Petty Corruption in Education?," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 32(1), pages 109-126.
    19. Riccardo Turati, 2020. "Network-based Connectedness and the Diffusion of Cultural Traits," LIDAM Discussion Papers IRES 2020012, Université catholique de Louvain, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES).
    20. Hillel Rapoport & Sulin Sardoschau & Arthur Silve, 2020. "Migration and Cultural Change," Working Papers 2020-10, CEPII research center.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    migration; social norms; female genital mutilation (FGM); Africa;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I15 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health and Economic Development
    • O55 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Africa
    • F22 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Migration

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:iza:izawol:journl:y:2016:n:282. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Institute of Labor Economics (IZA) (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/izaaade.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.