SELECTED STATISTICS ON WOMEN’S STATUS

2% of women 20-24 years were married orin union before age 15

17% of women 20-24 years were married orin union before age 18

7% of women 20-24 years have given birthby age 18

36%of ever-married women 15-49 yearsthink that a husband/partner is justifiedin hitting or beating his wife/partnerunder certain circumstances

97%of ever-married women 15-49 yearsmake use of at least one type ofinformation media at least once aweek (newspaper, magazine, televisionor radio)

Source: DHS 2014

Female genital mutilation (FGM) refers to “all procedures involving partial or total removal of the female external genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons.”1 While the exact number of girls and women worldwide who have undergone FGM remains unknown, at least 200 million girls and women have been cut in 31 countries with representative data on prevalence. FGM is a violation of girls’ and women’s human rights and is condemned by many international treaties and conventions, as well as by national legislation in many countries. Yet, where it is practised FGM is performed in line with tradition and social norms to ensure that girls are socially accepted and marriageable, and to uphold their status and honour and that of the entire family. UNICEF works with government and civil society partners towards the elimination of FGM in countries where it is still practised.

1. World Health Organization, Eliminating Female Genital Mutilation: An interagency statement, WHO, UNFPA, UNICEF, UNIFEM, OHCHR, UNHCR, UNECA, UNESCO, UNDP, UNAIDS, WHO, Geneva, 2008, p. 4.

STATISTICAL PROFILE ON FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION

National legislation criminalizing FGM passed2008

EGYPT

Data and Analytics SectionDIVISION OF DATA, ANALYTICS, PLANNING AND MONITORING

HOW WIDESPREAD IS THE PRACTICE?

FGM is nearly universal among girls and women of reproductive age in Egypt

WHEN AND HOW IS FGM PERFORMED?

Three-quarters of girls who underwent FGM were cut by health personnel

Notes: The boundaries and the names shown and the designations used on the map do not imply official endorsement or acceptance by the United Nations. Only categories with 25 or more unweighted cases are presented. Due to rounding, some of the data presented may not add up to 100 per cent. Prevalence data of Frontier Governorates do not include North and South Sinai. Prevalence data for girls aged 6 months to 14 reflect their current, but not final, FGM status since some girls who have not been cut may still be at risk of experiencing the practice once they reach the customary age for cutting. Therefore, the data on prevalence for girls under age 15 is actually an underestimation of the true extent of the practice. Since age at cutting varies among settings, the amount of underestimation also varies and this should be kept in mind when interpreting all FGM prevalence data for this age group. ‘Health personnel’ includes doctors, nurses, midwives and other health workers; ‘Traditional practitioner’ includes dayas, ghagarias and barbers. Questions on type of cutting only differentiated infibulation from non-infibulating forms of FGM. Information on type of cutting was not asked in more recent surveys in Egypt.

Source for all charts on this page: Health Issues Survey 2015

Percentage of girls and women aged 15 to 49 yearswho have undergone FGM, by region

Percentage of girls and women aged 15 to 49 years who have undergone FGM, by residence and wealth quintile

Percentage of girls aged 6 months to 14 years who have undergone FGM (as reported by their mothers), by residence, mother’s education and household wealth quintile

Percentage distribution of girls aged 15 to 19 years who have undergone FGM, by age at which cutting occurred

Percentage distribution of girls aged 1 to 14 years who have undergone FGM/C (as reported by their mothers), according to the type of person/practitioner performing the procedure

Among daughters of cut girls and women, percentage of girls aged 6 months to 14 years who have undergone FGM (as reported by their

mothers), by mothers’ attitudes about whether the practice should continue

10% - 25%

26% - 50%

51% - 80%

Less than 10%

Above 80%

No data

8793

77

94

70

Total Rural0

20

40

60

80

100

Urban Poorest Richest

14 1610

15 1323

5 0

20

40

60

80

100

Total Noeducation

Primaryor some

secondary

Secondary complete or

higher

Poorest

14

Richest Rural Urban

519

Daughters whosemothers think

FGM should continue

11

Daughters whose mothers say it

depends/are not sure

Daughters whosemothers think

FGM should stop

0

20

40

60

80

100

0 20 40 60 80 100

71 11242

1-4 years

5-9 years

10-14 years

15+ years

Don't know/Missing

0.3 Traditionalpractitioner

Health personnel

Don't know/Other/Missing

Doctor

Nurses / otherhealth workers

12

67

78

21

WHAT ARE THE PREVAILING ATTITUDES TOWARDS FGM?

Around half of people in Egypt support the continuation of FGM and believe it is a religious requirement

Percentage distribution of girls and women aged 15 to 49 and boys and men aged 15 to 49 years who have heard about FGM, by their attitudes about whether the practice should continue

Percentage of girls and women aged 15 to 49 years who have heard about FGM and think the practice should continue, by household wealth quintile, residence, education and age

IS THE PRACTICE OF FGM CHANGING?

Fewer adolescent girls have experienced FGM compared to older women, and support for FGM has declined

Percentage of girls and women aged 15 to 49 years who have undergone FGM, by current age

Percentage of ever-married girls and women aged 15 to 49 years who have undergone FGM, and percentage ever-married of girls and women aged 15 to 49 years who have heard about FGM and think the practice should continue

54

0 20 40 60 80 100

Boys andmen

Girls and women

Think FGM should continue Think FGM should stop Say it depends/are not sure

28

37

14

954

58

Percentage of girls and women aged 15 to 49 years and boysand men aged 15 to 49 years who have heard of FGM/C and

believe the practice is required by religion

46 50

0

20

40

60

80

100

Girls and women Boys and men

4

Total

35

54

28

6574

47

63

37

65

38

0

20

40

60

80

100

Total Richest Poorest No education Primary or some secondary

Secondary complete or higher

Rural Urban 45-49 years 15-19 years

53

Source for all of the above charts: Health Issues Survey 2015

Source: Health Issues Survey 2015

Note: Data from the DHS 2008 and Health Issues Survey 2015 were recalculated for ever-married girls and women to allow comparison with earlier surveys which only collected data on FGM from ever-married girls and women.

89

70

0

20

40

60

80

100

45-49 years 40-44 years 35-39 years 30-34 years 25-29 years 20-24 years 15-19 years

97 95 95 9382

Prevalence of FGM Think FGM should continue

82 75

97

71

96

68

95

62

0

20

40

60

80

100

DHS 1995 DHS 2000 DHS 2003 DHS 2005 DHS 2008

97 97

62

92

58

93

60

DHS 2014 Health IssuesSurvey 2015

EGYPT

Percentage of girls and women aged 15 to 49 years who have undergone FGM

Percentage of girls aged 0 to 14 years who have undergone FGM (as reported by their mothers)

Percentage of girls and women aged 15 to 49 who have heard of FGM and think the practice should continue

INTER-COUNTRY STATISTICAL OVERVIEW

Notes: In Liberia, girls and women who have heard of the Sande society were asked whether they were members; this provides indirect information on FGM since it is performed during initiation into the society. Data on girls’ prevalence in Egypt refer to girls aged 6 months to 14 years and in Indonesia refer to girls aged 0 to 11 years. An older source is used to report on the prevalence of FGM among girls and on the percentage of support for FGM in Uganda (DHS 2011) since the latest source did not collect these data. Data on the prevalence among girls refer to an older source in Nigeria (MICS 2016-17) due to an anomaly in the results in the most recent source. MICS data for Ghana (2011) could not be used to report on attitudes towards FGM due to the fact that information is missing for girls and women with no living daughters; data from MICS 2006 are used instead. EDSF/PAPFAM data for Djibouti (2012) could not be used for attitudes towards FGM since the question is different from the standard; data from MICS 2006 are used instead. In Liberia, only cut girls and women were asked about their attitudes towards FGM; since girls and women from practicing communities are more likely to support the practice, the level of support in this country as captured by DHS 2013 is higher than would be expected had all girls and women been asked their opinion. In Egypt and Somalia, the support for FGM was calculated among all girls and women, since respondents were not first asked whether they had heard of the practice. Prevalence data for girls and women aged 15 to 49 years and data on attitudes towards FGM are not available for Indonesia.

Source: DHS, EDSF/PAPFAM, MICS, Health Issues Survey, Population and Health Survey and RISKESDAS, 2004-2018.Updated January 2020

FOR MORE INFORMATIONData and Analytics Section - Division of Data, Analytics, Planning and Monitoring

UNICEF, 3 UN Plaza, New York, 10017Website: data.unicef.org Email: data@unicef.org

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