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Interventions to Stop Female Genital Cutting and the Evolution of the Custom: Evidence on Age at Cutting in Senegal

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  • Giulia Camilotti

Abstract

Legal sanctions and awareness campaigns are increasingly used to try to reduce female genital cutting (FGC). In this article, I show that these interventions against FGC, rather than leading to the abandonment of the practice, can have unintended and potentially harmful effects on the way FGC is performed. Using DHS data from Senegal, I find that girls born in a year and a region where the law against FGC has been legally enforced are cut almost one year earlier. No significant effect of the law is found on the prevalence of FGC. Using a unique dataset from the region of Kolda in Senegal, I find a decreasing trend in age at cutting after the year of the introduction of the law sanctioning FGC. In both cases, I interpret the decrease in age as the result of a process of de-ritualisation and individualisation of FGC due to the push towards the secrecy of the practice.

Suggested Citation

  • Giulia Camilotti, 2016. "Interventions to Stop Female Genital Cutting and the Evolution of the Custom: Evidence on Age at Cutting in Senegal," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 25(1), pages 133-158.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:jafrec:v:25:y:2016:i:1:p:133-158.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/jae/ejv013
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    Cited by:

    1. La Ferrara, Eliana & Gulesci, Selim & Jindani, Sam & Smerdon, David & Sulaiman, Munshi & Young, H. Peyton, 2021. "A Stepping Stone Approach to Understanding Harmful Norms," CEPR Discussion Papers 15776, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    2. Siwan Anderson, 2022. "Unbundling female empowerment," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 55(4), pages 1671-1701, November.
    3. Amirapu, Amrit & Asadullah, Niaz & Wahhaj, Zaki, 2024. "Can the Law Affect Attitudes and Behaviour in the Absence of Strict Enforcement? Experimental Evidence from a Child Marriage Reform in Bangladesh," IZA Discussion Papers 17410, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Amirapu, Amrit & Asadullah, M Niaz & Wahhaj, Zaki, 2022. "Can Child Marriage Law Affect Attitudes and Behaviour in the Absence of Strict Enforcement? Experimental Evidence from Bangladesh," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1107, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    5. Bertelli, Olivia & Calvo, Thomas & Lavallée, Emmanuelle & Mercier, Marion & Mesplé-Somps, Sandrine, 2024. "What one thinks, what one says and what one does: male justifications and practices of gender-based violence in Mali," CEPREMAP Working Papers (Docweb) 2406, CEPREMAP.
    6. McGavock, Tamara & Novak, Lindsey, 2023. "Now, Later, or Never? Evidence of the effect of weather shocks on female genital cutting in Sub-Saharan Africa," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 165(C).

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