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MEDIA CENTER Post-ICPD: The Decline of Female Circumcision in Egypt CAIRO (22 February 1999) — New findings from Population Council research suggest that young Egyptian girls today are at least 10 percentage points less likely to undergo female circumcision than were their mothers. This downward trend may be attributable in part to the campaign against female circumcision, also known as female genital mutilation that intensified following the ICPD in Cairo in 1994. That campaign has gained momentum from the partnerships forged between the Ministry of Health and Population and a vigorous coalition of Egyptian NGOs and women’s health activists. These new findings were announced at a news conference during the NGO Forum at the Hague on 7 February. The research, a nationally representative survey of over 9,000 adolescents and their parents conducted in 1997, highlights these findings:
The Adolescence and Social Change in Egypt survey represents the first opportunity to estimate circumcision rates across the entire population of single adolescent girls. Because other national surveys have included only married women, it has not been possible until now to estimate national prevalence levels for single females, especially younger girls who reflect emerging trends in society. In particular, data have not been available on the "post-ICPD" cohort of Egyptian girls, who entered into risk of undergoing circumcision as the public debates and grass-roots mobilization intensified. Peak years for undergoing circumcision are from ages 8–11; by age 13 most girls have passed beyond the risk of being circumcised. The survey found evidence linking a decline in prevalence of female circumcision to the time period after the ICPD conference. When three groups are compared, girls born in the years 1977 to 1980, a middle group born from 1980 to 1984, and the youngest girls born in 1985 to 1987, the post-ICPD effect becomes clear. Given the timing of circumcision in a girl's life, only the youngest group entered into risk of exposure after 1994. And it is among that post-ICPD group that a significant decline can be measured. The practice of female circumcision is widespread in Egypt, a deeply rooted tradition shared with countries of the Nile valley and other parts of Africa. In Egypt, the procedure usually takes place before or just as a girl reaches puberty and typically involves the removal of all or part of the clitoris and parts of the labia minora. The practice persists because of beliefs that it will moderate female sexuality and make girls more feminine and marriageable, and that it is sanctioned by religion. Following the ICPD conference, a national debate arose about the safety and necessity of female circumcision. Civil society groups throughout the country launched a movement dedicated to eliminating the practice. Nonetheless, in late 1994 a controversial decree was put into effect allowing doctors to perform the operation in public hospitals and clinics. That decree was reversed two years later, and since that time the current Minister of Health and Population has promoted a ban on all doctor-assisted circumcision, despite several challenges in the courts. In late 1997, the Egyptian Supreme Court upheld the Minister’s ban as well as a 1959 law criminalizing all female circumcision in the country. One outcome of the brief period mid-decade when doctors were permitted to perform the operation was a peak in already rising proportions of "medicalized" circumcision, with doctors replacing barbers and mid-wives. This finding suggests two simultaneous trends as families begin to question a community’s traditional practices: they are moving toward perceived safer forms of circumcision and some are abandoning the practice completely. The survey was conducted jointly by four institutions: the Population Council, an international nonprofit NGO with a regional office in Cairo; the Social Research Center of the American University in Cairo; the High Institute of Public Health, Alexandria University; and the Faculty of Medicine, Assiut University. Papers providing details of the survey methodology and findings will be presented soon at scientific conferences and national seminars in Egypt.
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