Publication year: 2011
Source: Social Science & Medicine, In Press, Accepted Manuscript, Available online 26 August 2011
Bettina, Shell-Duncan , Katherine, Wander , Ylva, Hernlund , Amadou, Moreau
Recent reviews of intervention efforts aimed at ending female genital cutting (FGC) have concluded that progress to date has been slow, and call for more efficient programs informed by theories on behavior change. Social convention theory, first proposed by Mackie (1996), posits that in the context of extreme resource inequality, FGC emerged as a means of securing a better marriage by signaling fidelity, and subsequently spread to become a prerequisite for marriage for all women. Change is predicted to result from coordinated abandonment in intermarrying groups so as to preserve a marriage market for uncircumcised girls. While this theory fits…
Highlights: ► Mixed method study of dynamics of behavior change with respect to female genital cutting (FGC) in Senegal and The Gambia. ► Generates predictions from a leading theory of behavior change for FGC, social convention theory, and empirically tests these predictions. ► We find that the practice is best described as a peer convention, rather than a marriage convention. ► Identifies access to social networks and accumulation of social capital as key factors for continuation of the practice. ► Suggests interventions be coordinated among members of intergenerational social networks.