EFFECT OF VITAMINS C AND E INTAKE ON BLOOD ... - EuroJournals

European Journal of Social Sciences - Volume 2, Number 1 (2006)
exercise some caution in interpreting this result more so that no clinical examination of respondents
was carried out to confirm their self-reported FGM status and type. Nevertheless, the data reported in
this study can be relied upon to a reasonable degree when viewed in the context of numerous other
studies which had investigated the prevalence of FGM in Nigeria and other African countries. For
instance, Epstein, Graham & Rimsza (2001) reported that FGM was performed on 89% of females in
Northern Sudan and on about 98% of Somali females. In the same vein, Allam, Irala-Estevez &
Novajas (1999) reported that 95% of Egyptian females were mutilated to some degree. Several prior
studies in Nigeria had reported high prevalence of FGM ranging from 70 to 95% (Briggs, 2002 and
Modupe & Lola, 1985).
However, the high prevalence of FGM as reported in this study raises doubts concerning the
efficacy of various local and national public enlightenment campaigns mounted by the Nigerian
government in recent time to stop the practice of FGM. The present data on the prevalence of FGM,
which is as high as was reported in studies conducted several years before the present study, suggests
that campaign efforts to stop the practice had either not been well targeted or that the efforts had not
been strong enough to produce any significant reduction in the practice.
It is noteworthy that majority of respondents who experienced FGM reported carrying out the
procedure on at least one daughter within the last five years. This seems difficult to explain
considering that the respondents also admitted that FGM had negative effects on its victims. It is
certainly a matter of serious concern that the victims, in spite of the negative effects of the practice on
them, did not just believe that FGM was good but actually performed the procedure on their daughters.
This phenomenon tends to confirm the observation in the joint report of the World Health Organization
and the International Federation of Gynaecology and Obstetrics (1992) that victims of the practice are
often its strongest proponents.
The justification for FGM, as found out in this study, was largely grounded in the desire to
protect the local custom of the people. Other highly favored reasons include the need to control a
woman’s sexual appetite, compliance with husband’s desire to have the female child circumcised,
prevention of sexual promiscuity by unmarried girls and the need to save the life of an unborn baby,
which necessitates the cutting of the mother’s clitoris so that the baby’s head does not touch it during
delivery. Most of these reasons are not only self-contradictory but highly incompatible with biological
facts. Interestingly, majority of respondents disagreed that the practice was a necessary religious
obligation, though a greater percentage of Muslim respondents were more favorably disposed toward
the continuation of the practice than their Christian counterparts.
Another major finding of this study is the influence of some selected variables on respondents’
attitude to FGM. When respondents’ attitudes to FGM were examined based on selected background
variables, it was found that age, level of education and husband’s support for the practice significantly
influenced their attitudes. With regard to age and education, older respondents and those with lower
levels of education showed more support for the practice than younger and more educated respondents.
This is consistent with findings from several studies in Nigeria and elsewhere (Adinma, 1997;
Ehigiegba, et al, 1998; Adongo, et al, 1998; Mbacke et al, 1998; EFCS, 1996).
It is instructive that the results of this study showed that women’s attitude to FGM were
significantly influenced by their husbands’ support for the practice. Respondents who reported that
their husbands supported the practice or were indifferent to it demonstrated a stronger support for the
continuation of the practice than those whose husbands opposed it. This suggests that Nigerian men
have a significant role to play in the eradication of FGM. If men withdraw their support for the
practice, it is likely that their wives would change their attitude.
It is, however, puzzling that the awareness of negative consequences of FGM by respondents
did not significantly influence their attitudes. Ordinarily, one expects that the awareness of health
hazards and other negative consequences associated with a practice should be enough to make those
who engage in it change their attitude to the practice and consequently withdraw their support.
However, despite their awareness of and personal exposure to the negative effects of FGM,
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