KEY STATISTICS ON WOMEN’S STATUS

13% of women 20-24 years were married orin union before age 15

30% of women 20-24 years old married or inunion before age 18

31% of women 20-24 years have given birthby age 18

53%of women 15-49 years old think that ahusband/partner is justified in hitting/beating his wife/partner under certaincircumstances

42%of women 15-49 years old who makeuse of at least one type of informationmedia at least once a week (newspaper,magazine, television, radio)

No national decree/legislation banning FGM

Source: MICS 2017

Female genital mutilation/cutting (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 30 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

SIERRA LEONE

Data and Analytics SectionDIVISION OF DATA, RESEARCH AND POLICY

© UNICEF/UNI109103/Asselin

WHEN AND HOW IS FGM PERFORMED?

HOW WIDESPREAD IS THE PRACTICE?

Nearly nine in ten girls and women in Sierra Leone have undergone FGM

Two in three girls experienced the practice between ages 5 and 14

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 0 to 14 years who have undergone FGM (as reported by their mothers), by residence, mother’s education and wealth quintile

Among daughters of cut girls and women, the percentage of girls aged 0 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%

86 80 75

Total Poorest RichestRural Urban0

20

40

60

80

100 9392

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 for girls aged 0 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 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 traditional circumcisers, traditional birth attendants, traditional midwives and other types of traditional practitioners.

Source for all charts on this page: MICS 2017

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

Percentage distribution of girls aged 0 to 14 years who have undergone FGM, according to the type of person/practitioner performing the procedure

Percentage distribution of girls aged 0 to 14 years who have undergone FGM, by type of FGM performed

FGM commonly occurs in adolesence; nearly half of girls who underwent the practice were cut after age 10

0-4 years

5-9 years

10-14 years

15+ years

Don’t know/Missing 0 20 40 60 80 100

334 26 19 18

Traditionalpractitioner

Health personnel

Don’t know/Missing

1

99

0

Cut, flesh removed

Type not determined/Not sure/Don’t know

Cut, no flesh removed/Nicked

Sewn closed

0.2

89

1

9

10

Daughters whose mothers

think FGMshould continue

3

Daughters whose mothers say it depends

9

Daughters whose mothers

are unsure

0

10

20

30

40

50

Daughters whose mothers

think FGM should stop

410

Total Primarycomplete

Seniorsecondaryor higher

Poorest0

10

20

30

40

50

Richest Noeducation

UrbanRural

68 9 7 10 9 2

Juniorsecondary

3

WHAT ARE THE PREVAILING ATTITUDES TOWARDS FGM?

Women are more likely than men to support the continuation of the practice

IS THE PRACTICE OF FGM CHANGING?

There is evidence of some decline in the prevalence of FGM in Sierra Leone, and attitudes towards the practice have also changed over time

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

Notes: N/A = not available. Data on attitudes from the 2010 MICS are excluded due to a lack of comparability

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

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

Percentage of girls and women aged 15 to 49 years and boys and men aged 15 to 49 years who have heard about FGM and

believe the practice is required by religion

Source: MICS 2017

5647

0

20

40

60

80

100

Girls and women Boys and men

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

T 0

20

40

60

80

100

otal

68

Poorest

83

Richest

47

No education

81

Primarycomplete

72

Rural

80

Urban

56

45-49 years

80

52

Secondary or higher

15-19 years

56

Source: MICS 2017

45-49 years 40-44 years 35-39 years 30-34 years 25-29 years 20-24 years 15-19 years 0

20

40

60

80

100 98 96 95 91 86

64

96

Prevalence of FGM Think FGM should continue

0

20

40

60

80

100 94 9186

66

MICS 2005 DHS 2008 MICS 2010

N/A

88

DHS 2013

90

69

MICS 2017

86

68

Source: MICS 2017 for girls and women and DHS 2013 for boys and men

Boys andmen

Girls and women

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

0 20 40 60 80 100

40

27

46

68

13

5

Source: DHS 2013

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 years who have heard about FGM and think the practice should continue

INTER-COUNTRY STATISTICAL OVERVIEW

SIERRA LEONE

Notes: Data on attitudes for Yemen refer to ever-married girls and women. 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. Egypt data refer to girls aged 1 to 14 years and Indonesia data refer to girls aged 0 to 11 years. An older source is used to report on the prevalence of FGM among girls aged 0 to 14 years for Gambia (MICS 2010) and Uganda (DHS 2011) since the latest source did not collect these data. 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. 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. Prevalence data on FGM for girls and women aged 15 to 49 years and data on attitudes towards FGM are not available for Indonesia.

Sources: DHS, MICS, Health Issues Survey, Population and Health Survey and RISKESDAS, 2004-2018.

Updated January 2019

FOR MORE INFORMATIONData and Analytics Section - Division of Data, Research and Policy

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

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