Female Genital Mutilation in Kenya: are young men allies in social change programmes?

Abstract

Abstract

The Girl Summit held in 2014 aimed to mobilise greater effort to end Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) within a generation, building on a global movement which viewed the practice as a severe form of violence against women and girls and a violation of their rights. The UN, among others, endorse “comprehensive” strategies to end FGM, including legalistic measures, social protection and social communications. FGM is a sensitive issue and difficult to research, and rapid ethnographic methods can use existing relations of trust within social networks to explore attitudes towards predominant social norms which posit FGM as a social necessity. This study used Participatory Ethnographic Evaluation Research (PEER) to understand young men’s (18-25 years) perceptions of FGM, demand for FGM among future spouses, and perceptions of efforts to end FGM in a small town in West Pokot, Kenya, where FGM is reported to be high (between 85% to 96%). Twelve PEER researchers were recruited, who conducted two interviews with their friends, generating a total of 72 narrative interviews. The majority of young men who viewed themselves as having a “modern” outlook and with aspirations to marry “educated” women were more likely not to support FGM. Our findings show that young men viewed themselves as valuable allies in ending FGM, but that voicing their opposition to the practice was often difficult. More efforts are needed by multi-stakeholders – campaigners, government and local leaders – to create an enabling environment to voice that opposition.

Résumé

Le « Sommet pour l’avenir des filles » organisé en 2014 souhaitait mobiliser davantage pour éradiquer les mutilations génitales féminines (MGF) en une génération. Il se fondait sur un mouvement mondial qui considérait cette pratique comme une forme grave de violence contre les femmes et les filles, et une violation de leurs droits. Les Nations Unies, parmi d’autres organisations, ont adopté des stratégies « globales » pour en finir avec les MGF, notamment des mesures juridiques, de protection sociale et de communication sociale. La MGF est une question sensible sur laquelle il est difficile de faire des recherches ; les méthodes ethnographiques rapides peuvent utiliser les relations de confiance existant au sein des réseaux sociaux pour explorer les attitudes à l’égard des normes sociales prédominantes qui affirment que la MGF est une nécessité sociale. Cette étude a utilisé la recherche d’évaluation ethnographique participative (Participatory Ethnographic Evaluation Research/PEER) pour comprendre comment les jeunes hommes (18-25 ans) considèrent la MGF, dans quelle mesure les futurs époux l’exigent et comment ils conçoivent les activités pour éradiquer la MGF dans une petite ville de West Pokot, Kenya, où le taux de MGF semble élevé (de 85% à 96%). Douze chercheurs PEER ont été recrutés; ils ont mené deux entretiens avec leurs amis, créant un total de 72 entretiens narratifs. La majorité des jeunes gens qui jugeaient qu’ils avaient une vision « moderne » et souhaitaient épouser des femmes « instruites » avaient plus de probabilités de ne pas soutenir les MGF. Nos résultats montrent que les jeunes gens se considéraient comme des alliés précieux pour éradiquer la MGF, mais qu’il leur était souvent difficile de manifester leur opposition à cette pratique. Davantage d’efforts sont requis de la part des acteurs – responsables de campagnes, dirigeants gouvernementaux et locaux – pour créer un environnement favorable où faire entendre cette opposition.

Resumen

La ‘Cumbre de las Niñas’, celebrada en 2014, procuró movilizar mayores esfuerzos por eliminar la Mutilación Genital Femenina en una generación, basándose en un movimiento mundial que consideraba la práctica como una forma severa de violencia contra las mujeres y niñas y como una violación de sus derechos. La ONU, entre otras organizaciones, respalda estrategias ‘integrales’ para poner fin a la MGF, incluidas medidas legalistas, protección social y comunicaciones sociales. La MGF es un asunto delicado y difícil de investigar; los métodos etnográficos rápidos pueden utilizar las relaciones existentes de confianza en las redes sociales para explorar las actitudes hacia las normas sociales predominantes que plantean la MGF como una necesidad social. Este estudio utilizó la Investigación y Evaluación Etnográfica Participativa (PEER, por sus siglas en inglés) para entender las percepciones de los hombres jóvenes (entre 18 y 25 años de edad) de la MGF, la demanda de MGF entre futuros cónyuges y las percepciones de los esfuerzos por eliminar la MGF en un pueblo pequeño de West Pokot, Kenia, donde se informa una alta tasa de MGF (del 85% al 96%). Se reclutó a 12 investigadores PEER, quienes realizaron dos entrevistas con sus amistades y generaron un total de 72 entrevistas narrativas. La mayoría de los jóvenes que consideraban que tenían una perspectiva ‘moderna’ y aspiraciones para casarse con mujeres ‘educadas’ eran más propensos a no apoyar la MGF. Nuestros hallazgos muestran que los jóvenes se consideraban como valiosos aliados para eliminar la MGF, pero que a menudo les resultaba difícil expresar su oposición a esta práctica. Se necesitan más esfuerzos por parte de múltiples partes interesadas –activistas, líderes gubernamentales y líderes locales– para crear un ambiente facilitador para expresar esa oposición.

Keywords:

• Kenya
• men
• female genital mutilation
• social change

Introduction

In 2014, at the Girl Summit, the UK’s Department for International Development announced its intention to mobilise greater effort and resources to end Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C) within a generation. This built on a global movement which has been increasing since the 1995 conferences during the UN Decade for Women, which positioned FGM as an intolerable form of violence against women and girls, and a violation of their rights. This opened up opportunities for forging global consensus with the intent of creating a social movement to end FGM.¹

Since 1965, 24 of the 29 countries with the highest prevalence of FGM have enacted laws criminalising FGM, which has been argued to be an essential part of creating social change to eliminate FGM, though insufficient of itself.^2–4 A focus on laws, policies and prosecution has not been without controversy. As women’s rights to protection from FGM have become enshrined in laws across Africa, it is questionable whether this reflects value systems at the local level.⁵ Critics argue that human rights movements privilege legal strategies over others and suggest that this may ultimately delegitimise non-state action (e.g., religious, national, or local work).⁵ It remains unclear how the breadth of measures can be implemented at the local level, and how approaches can work more synergistically.

Efforts to end FGM are often characterised by promotion of critical reflection of social norms, thought and action at community level.⁶ Local debates are informed by constellations of power, the politics of culture and external discourses.⁷ In local contexts, legitimate voices of opposition may emerge, or be restrained. Social change programmes have much to gain from identifying how disparate actors and interventions could act more synergistically. Conversely, the history of efforts to end FGM has often been controversial and highly politicised. There are numerous historic examples of where FGM has become part of a re-assertion of ethnic and cultural identity against a perceived imposed external agenda.

Kenya has a long history of efforts to end FGM, beginning under colonial administration. In the 1930s to 1950s, practising FGM became a symbol of resistance to colonial control and part of a re-assertion of African nationalist identity.^8,9 This politicisation has arguably continued to the present day. Government-appointed local chiefs were suspected of instigating mass demonstrations against the FGM Law, enacted in 2011.¹⁰ In other areas, politicians will condone the practice or be unwilling around elections to support efforts to end FGM.¹¹ Despite these controversies, Kenya is one of the few countries where there is some evidence that FGM prevalence is declining, indicating that legal and policy responses may be having an effect. ¹² The prevalence of FGM among women aged 15-49 years has been gradually declining from 38% in 1998 to 21% in 2014. ¹²

Men could be important allies in efforts to end FGM, as they play a considerable role as drivers of demand for the practice in their roles as husbands, fathers, and community and religious leaders. ^13–15 There is limited research on the success of involving men in interventions to end FGM.¹⁵ Research among men in Mali found that men, though mainly educated, urban elite, were in fact less supportive of the practice than women.⁷ Evidence from a recent systematic review found that men are not as supportive of FGM as is often assumed, with some viewing it as leading to adverse health outcomes for women, loss of women’s sexual pleasure as well as male sexual dissatisfaction.¹⁵ Men may accept the practice of FGM as a social necessity even while disapproving of it, and be subject to strong social pressures to maintain the practice.¹⁵

The aim of this study was firstly to gain an in-depth understanding of how decisions about marriage were influenced by demand for FGM, and to what extent young men of pre-marital age (18-25 years) could exert their agency in these decisions. We wanted to understand how young men perceived FGM and efforts to end it, as well as how young men wanted to contribute to a shift in social norms, and hence how communications programmes can enlist their voices to bring about social change. Ethnographic qualitative methods are useful in addressing these questions, particularly in their ability to probe deeply into someone’s perceptions of social life, mapping out shifts in power and social norms.^16,17

Research setting

West Pokot is a semi-arid area in Western Kenya populated mainly by the Pokot people, who are a Nilotic tribe dependent on nomadic pastoralism.¹⁸ Unemployment is high in West Pokot, with only 5% counted as wage earners. Educational enrolment is low, with only 27% of children enrolled in secondary education.¹⁹ The prevalence of FGM is high in this area, with sources citing the prevalence as between 85% and 96%.^20,21 Infibulation (the removal of the inner and outer labia and suturing of the vulva known as FGM type 3) is reported to be the most common type of FGM practised by the Pokot.

Some interventions to end FGM, led by local community-based organisations, national media and district governments, were known to have taken place. Addressing FGM is included in Pokot county’s Integrated Plan (2013-2017), through raising social awareness and better enforcement of Kenya’s law criminalising the practice.¹⁹

Methodology

The study used the participatory ethnographic evaluation research (PEER) approach, which is derived from anthropological methods and holds that trusting relationships and rapport with the community are pre-requisites for researching social life. PEER trains members of the target population as PEER researchers (PRs) to conduct in-depth and unstructured qualitative interviews with their peers within a social network. The PRs effectively become key informants by virtue of their status as community members and their local knowledge. To ensure confidentiality and to enable interviewees to discuss sensitive issues, all interviews were carried out in the third person (asking “what do other people say about” an issue).¹⁶ PEER has worked well to research sensitive issues, especially in sexual and reproductive health.¹⁶ An in-depth discussion of the method is described elsewhere.¹⁶

We recruited 12 PRs, who were all young men of pre-marital age and status (18-25 years), using a convenience sample (on-street recruitment in a local market). PRs were trained in basic interviewing skills over two days. PRs used selective sampling to identify “friends” of the same age who they trusted to interview. Each PR interviewed two “friends” on two research themes: attitudes towards marital life and FGM and perceptions of efforts to end FGM. Twenty-four study participants from the PRs’ social network were interviewed twice. Data were collected during debriefing meetings between researchers and the PRs, where there was further probing on social meanings and behaviours detailed in the narrative data. A total of 72 interviews were collected from 36 interviewees, which included 48 interviews between PRs and “friends”, and 24 de-briefs between PRs and PEER facilitators.

The aim of the interviews was to elicit narrative accounts of social behaviour by those known to PRs, and not their own behaviour or normative accounts of how people ought to behave. Contextual social meanings were probed in debriefing meetings between PRs and the PEER facilitators, conducted in Pokot or English (depending on the PRs' preferences), where narratives were simultaneously recorded. The young men who took part were a mean of 22 years of age. PRs tended to be more educated than their “friends”, with half having attained a tertiary degree compared to only a fifth of “friends”. “Friends” tended to be unemployed (five men), or working as farmers (11 men), whereas more PRs were students (five men).

Ethical approval was obtained by the University of Nairobi.

Findings

“Marriageability” and demand for FGM

The PEER data showed that in this setting, endorsement of FGM was closely tied to men’s acquisition of social status and position as they transitioned to adulthood through marriage. Women who had undergone FGM were said to be mature, responsible within the household, and able to conduct ceremonial functions within the village. In justifying FGM, reference to control of women’s sexuality recurred, as women with FGM were “more trustworthy” and less likely to be unfaithful. Social shaming and ostracisation of women who had not undergone FGM was widely reported, as well as of the men who married them. Underpinning these norms was a strong sense of needing to maintain an established and gendered social order. For men, marriage to a woman with FGM was viewed as necessary to ensuring wealth accumulation, both in the everyday world and as part of being provided with “blessings” from ancestors. Conversely, marriage to women without FGM could result in “curses”, such as disastrous failures of crops and health crises, unhappiness and divorce.

For these young men, to be married was to assume an adult role within the community, a place within the group of elders who governed each village, and a part of ceremonial functions:

“It is important because when we marry you will be allowed to sit with your married colleagues, you discuss things about the community together, you sit together, you enjoy ceremonies together, you will have a preserved place to sit together. If you are not married you will not be respected.”

There were strong social pressures exerted on young men to marry women with FGM, including the threat of being socially outcast from village life and denied their assumed place in the local governance structure. Those who tended to view FGM as a social necessity also wanted to have a future role in the village, particularly in ceremonial functions which their wives would contribute to. Yet, young men were far from embracing the view that marriage to a woman with FGM was to be desired. It is important to understand the ways in which they questioned the social approval of FGM.

Independence in selecting a spouse has been associated with declining support for FGM.¹⁴ Many of these young men strongly asserted that they alone would make decisions about who to marry, based on their personal preference, and that this represented a marked shift from earlier times:

“My friend said that a man is just a man, as long as you have gone through the process of being declared a man, you have freedom to marry the woman that you want to marry…these days the parents don’t look for the girl, you look for the girl yourself. People now have education and so that’s the main thing for them to look for their own wives.”

Even though decisions around marriage were tightly socially controlled by parents, male peers and others, young men wanted to be able to marry women without FGM, should they decide to, and in some cases were successful in negotiating this.

Aspirations to marry educated women were one of the justifications for questioning the practice of FGM. Some young men asserted that young girls would be married once they had undergone FGM and would end their education. Support for ending FGM was highest among those who viewed themselves as embracing “modern” values, such as being educated, and who aspired to having a wife who would economically contribute to the household:

“Nowadays, they are saying they go for educated girls… I prefer an educated girl. It has changed because, one, I must walk with my class, that means for example if I’m now educated I must have wife who understands me.”

This did not mean that they were striving for gender equality. Many of these young men were also very concerned about women’s rising social status and education, and specifically how it would affect their own decision-making power within the household, which they considered an affront to their male status. Far from embracing notions of gender equality, many young men sought out women with subservient characteristics, and respect for a gendered social order:

“They would like the person they marry to be below him and not try to lead him. There are women who disturb others and he doesn’t want to be disturbed. They think they know a lot of things, they are enlightened, they get a little education and think they have something. They are afraid that a man [who] also has education might come and take his wife later on so he has to protect against that.”

The example of men within the community who had happily married women without FGM also provided an interesting counterpoint to the widespread perception that the practice is a necessity to ensure a happy marriage. Discrimination against men who married women without FGM was widespread, and many of the PEER stories concerned men whose wives were forced to undergo FGM once it was found that they were uncut. However, educated, wealthy men appeared to evade this criticism, and in doing so, offered an alternative vision of marital bliss:

“They were saying there’s no ill motive about someone who’s married a circumcised woman. They don’t talk about him. They don’t have any ill motive about him or her. So now I was talking about the man being strong. If he marries [an] uncircumcised one, he’s very strong and can’t fear anyone… And most of the cases those people who’ve married uncircumcised [women] are educated. They live a good lifestyle. Maybe they are well off, they are earning salaries.”

Other justifications for rejecting the necessity of FGM included high rates of complications in childbirth and young men’s desires for sexual experiences. Difficulties in sexual relations with women with FGM were widely acknowledged and reported, but the stigma in discussing sexuality may prevent public discussion around sex within marriage:

“The issue of having fulfilling sexual life is obvious expectation of the man from the wife…It is the duty of this woman in this married life … to not to put a barrier in terms of his sexual advances, and fulfil his sexual desires…my friend said that marrying an uncut woman is better because even right now …his wife is not cut. The wife has not had any complications during delivery, and for example, sexual engagement is more interesting.”

Health-based justifications were much more publicly discussed. The wife’s ability to produce healthy children was highly valued, and a clan’s reputation for birth without complications assessed by family as part of spouse selection. In some cases, men were aware of how FGM was causing high rates of maternal mortality and this underlaid their opposition to the practice:

“But here some men take it positively to marry uncircumcised woman because she doesn’t have complications during birth… He gave example that lack of blessings from parents will give birth to child with disabilities – they take that as a misleading culture.”

Perceptions of efforts to end FGM

Efforts to end FGM were often perceived as resulting in social divisions at village level. This was partly due to high levels of stigma and social marginalisation of women who had not undergone FGM (and their husbands), as well as in some instances, the way in which anti-FGM campaigns had been implemented:

“My first friend discouraged and was against it (ending FGM), it is bad because for example our wives who are not circumcised they are not supposed to mingle freely with those who are circumcised, and it promotes segregation in the community... My friend opposes that discrimination where people will not want to be with him because his wife is not circumcised, it promotes division and people should live in harmony.”

Those who openly voiced opposition to FGM were predominantly associated with Christian faith, and this often resulted in anti-FGM efforts being enmeshed in the local politics between faith groups. Those who endorsed FGM were often presented in the narratives as “traditional” and “backwards”, both in their views on FGM and their “immoral” social behaviours, for instance, drinking local brews. Those who supported ending FGM viewed themselves as embracing a “modernist” and progressive agenda (education, development and Christian faith). Those who wanted to end FGM were thus very much understood as having a wider cultural agenda which, young men argued, undermined their local legitimacy:

“We have these NGOs who sponsor the young girls. They also challenge them to go to church, so we need a group who is independent to do this. Most of the campaigns are church-led, we don't have these members who are not church members, and who take alcohol and who talk about this issue.”

Conversely, the perception that a “modernist” agenda was eroding a local, ethnic identity was clearly expressed. In this context, support for FGM was once again viewed as resistance and re-assertion of ethnic identity and essential for maintenance of “culture”:

“(Culture) is getting eroded, nowadays you don’t even experience the things that used to be performed in the old days, and a lot of ceremonies are going away. Most people have embraced modern formal education and people are busy in wealth creation and they no longer pay attention to their own culture that does not bring any benefits.”

The local government and police had led efforts to improve detection and prosecution of those committing FGM, but in these narratives many questioned their sincerity and credibility in doing so. Detection by police was often easily avoided by conducting cutting ceremonies in secret. Local chiefs, who themselves were married to women with FGM, were viewed as being insincere. The narratives often highlighted the inconsistencies in local leaders’ attitudes towards enforcement, particularly around election time. The inconsistencies in political opposition to FGM contrasted with those who argued that it was an essential part of the social order.

Young men’s own views on ending FGM

Young men’s recommendations for strengthening social change programmes to end FGM were explored in a final workshop. One emerging theme was the need for those leading anti-FGM efforts to have a more neutral character, and to be seen to use culturally affirmative approaches which did not denigrate local culture and practices.

While advocating for education programmes to reach those with decision-making power, such as parents, young men also recognised the important role of their same-age peers in exerting pressure to maintain FGM. Youth-led discussion groups are a popular approach, especially in the more remote areas where campaigns do not usually reach, and as part of critical analysis of the norms that support FGM:

“When you love a young girl, and you express your feelings towards her, and at some point you tell her that I really love you, but I am feeling that if I married in this uncircumcised state it’s really not good, so the men have to be trained about this so that they themselves say it’s really bad.”

Young men also wanted to see more use of “community allies”, or champions: those with a community leadership role who, through providing role models of men leading successful lives although married to women without FGM, could not only contest beliefs about the social necessity of FGM, but provide emotional support to younger men to also oppose the practice:

“The community allies because they are the ones who interact mostly with the young men… They are working like teachers and doctors, they talk from their own heart, and lots of them are working as volunteers, they just use their knowledge to give direction to the community. They are married and respected.”

Lastly, young men wanted to see a more effective detection and prosecution response, especially involving local governance structures, such as the local area groups (the Nyumba Kumi)^*.

Discussion

The young men in this PEER study saw themselves as valuable allies for young women in a social movement to end FGM. This study contributes to a growing body of evidence that shows that men – especially younger men – disapprove of the practice because they recognise the harms that it inflicts on women and themselves.^1,15 Men’s potential as strategic allies against FGM has been widely recognised: husbands’ opposition to FGM is a protective factor against the practice. As in other areas of women’s health, excluding men from programmatic responses risks ignoring a valuable source of support for the movement to end FGM,²⁴ and of addressing gender equality more widely.

This study provides important insights into how young men contested demand for FGM, and their rationales for doing so. Successfully addressing FGM relies on understanding the social contexts in which it is perpetuated. This study particularly focused on the issue of "marriageability" and its links to demand for FGM. Social norms that support FGM are interlinked and mutually reinforcing, and difficult to contest. There were strong social pressures exerted on young men to conform to demand for FGM, using social shame, stigma and the threat of social exclusion. Young men’s aspirations for marital life, for being modern young men married to educated young women and their desire for fulfilling sexual lives, provided important justifications for wanting to end FGM. Examples of socially successful, educated and wealthy men who were happily married to women without FGM provided important counter “proof” to the assertion that FGM is a necessity for avoiding curses, marital disharmony and ill fortune.

A social movement to end FGM must identify new voices of opposition to build momentum. Young men’s opposition to FGM is incipient, and programmes could do much more to support their voices. We may overestimate young men’s abilities to resist the social hierarchies by not acknowledging that they are subject to the same gender-based power structures that maintain FGM. The effectiveness of approaches to ending FGM vary according to contexts, with little evidence as to why this is.⁶ This study suggests that identifying and supporting local, credible voices of opposition is crucial. A legalistic and prosecutions approach is likely to be ineffective without it. In this setting, those who committed FGM were easily avoiding detection by the police.²¹ Those who publicly opposed FGM – government leaders, church leaders and NGOs – were said to lack moral credibility, as their positions on the issue often shifted or they were known to be married to women with FGM themselves and had already “received the benefits” of FGM.

Interventions to end FGM in Kenya have had a complex history, enmeshed in the politics of culture and religion.⁸ In this context, efforts to end FGM were viewed as socially divisive, linked to a faith-based agenda, and denigrating local culture, religion and identity. This has echoes with previous attempts at ending FGM in Kenya, led by Protestant missionaries and opposed on the basis of a resurgent ethnic identity. In this setting, resistance had a modern twist, based on maintaining an ethnic identity against forces of “modernisation” and cultural erosion. The PEER data also suggests that current efforts to end FGM have very much stayed within a specific faith group (Christianity), and as such will struggle to reach wider audiences.

If ending FGM relies on de-linking the practice from its embedded links to cultural identity,²⁵ young men’s views on how this can be achieved are instructive. They wanted intervention agencies to have a neutral character, but also to be locally-led, principally by other male role models who had the power to resist FGM. This underlines the importance of using approaches which are viewed as being culturally affirmative and fostering social harmony, particularly between peer groups.⁵ This can be done through creating open dialogue, and spaces for discussions between young men, young women and their parents on their social expectations of marriage and partners.

Strengths and limitations

The strengths of the study are that it uses rapid ethnographic methods, which can provide insights into the target group’s worldviews and perceptions of FGM. The limitation of the study is that it provides in-depth insights in a specific context and findings are not generalisable beyond this setting or group. The young men in this study tended to be more educated and employed than their interviewees. This may reflect a recruitment bias, as they were more able to take part in the study as PEER researchers.

Acknowledgements

This research was conducted as part of The Girl Generation, a social change communications initiative that provides a platform for the Africa-led movement to end FGM, funded by the UK Department for International Development (DfID). We would like to thank all colleagues, our local partner Umoja Development Services and other institutions in Kenya who directly or indirectly supported the writing of this paper. Special thanks go to the young men who took part in this PEER project, and without whom there wouldn’t have been anything to write about.

Notes

* Nyumba Kumi, meaning ‘ten households’ in Kiswahili, is a homeland security system which assigns local leaders to report on security to security agencies.