SELECTED STATISTICS ON WOMEN’S STATUS

17% of women 20-24 years married orin union before age 15

52% of women 20-24 years married orin union before age 18

37% of women 20-24 years have given birthby age 18

73%of women aged 15-49 years old thinkthat a husband/partner is justified inhitting/beating his wife under certaincircumstances

28%of women 15-49 years make use at leastone type of information media at leastonce a week (newspaper, magazine,television or radio)

Source: MICS 2015

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 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 countrieswhere 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

MALI

Data and Analytics SectionDIVISION OF DATA, RESEARCH AND POLICY

© UNICEF/UNI134150/Bindra

No national decree/legislation banning FGM

WHEN AND HOW IS FGM PERFORMED?

HOW WIDESPREAD IS THE PRACTICE?

Approximately eight out of ten girls and women in Mali 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 household wealth quintile

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 2015

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 (as reported by their mothers), according to

the type of person/practitioner performing the procedure

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

mothers), by type of FGM performed

Nearly three-quarters of adolescent girls who underwent FGM did so before the age of 5

83 85

64

87

0

20

40

60

80

100

Total Rural Poorest RichestUrban

82

10% - 25%

26% - 50%

51% - 80%

Less than 10%

Above 80%

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

73

0 20 40 60 80 100

914 4

0.50-4 years

5-9 years

10-14 years

15+ years

Don’t know/Missing

Daughters whose mothers think

FGM should continue

Daughters whosemothers are

unsure

Daughters whose mothers sayit depends

Daughters whosemothers think

FGM should stop

0

20

40

60

80

100

8073

5953

73 72 78 73 78

67

79

63

0

20

40

60

80

100

Primarycomplete

Secondaryor higher

7

93

0.3

Traditionalpractitioner

Health personnel

Don’t know/Missing

26

60

77

Cut, flesh removed

Type not determined/Not sure/Don’t know

Cut, no flesh removed/Nicked

Sewn closed

WHAT ARE THE PREVAILING ATTITUDES TOWARDS FGM?

One in three girls and women think FGM is necessary for social acceptance, while one in four think it is a religious requirement

IS THE PRACTICE OF FGM CHANGING?

There is no evidence of decline in the prevalence of FGM among girls and women in Mali but attitudes towards the practice have slightly 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.

Source for all of the above charts: MICS 2015, unless otherwise noted

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, by survey year

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

Among girls and women aged 15 to 49 years who have heard about FGM, the percentage who cite specific benefits

or advantages for a girl to undergo the procedure

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

0 20 40 60 80 100

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

1475 10

0

20

40

60

80

100

75

Total Secondary or higher

74

Poorest

68 79 75

6875 7277 71

85 8976 73

DHS 2006 MICS 2010

Prevalence of FGM

Think FGMshould continue

0

20

40

60

80

100

DHS 2001

9280 83

75

MICS 2015

84 84 82 81 83 83 83

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

No benefits

More sexual pleasure for the man

Cleanliness/Hygiene

Social acceptance

Better marriage prospects

Preservation of virginity

Required by religion

Other

Don’t know

17

22

37

10

12

7

24

16

N/ASource: DHS 2006

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

MALI

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/C 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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