Egypt - According to a recent study by Measure DHS, attitudes towards FGM are slowly changing in Egypt, a country with very high rates of FGM. The study compares data from 1995, when the rate of women who had been circumcised was as high as 90 %. 10 years later, the rate remains high at 80 %, but especially younger girls are circumcised less often, pointing at a decreasing trend. FGM is illegal in Egypt since the early 1990s, and has been prosecuted more intensely since 2007.

Besides the actual rates, which are changing very slowly, the study finds that the attitide of women on FGM are changing significantly. In 1995, 8 out of 10 women supported the practice, ten years later only 6 out of ten made such a statement. Another finding is that FGM prevails mainly in the less educated, lower income share of society, were rates are significatly higher than in the upper 20 %.

Source: VOA News