Profile of FGM in Kenya English - 2020
Profile of FGM in Kenya English - 2020
Female genital
mutilation in the
global development
agenda
SDG 5
Female genital mutilation (FGM) is Achieve gender
equality and
a violation of human rights. Every empower all
girl and woman has the right to be women and girls
30 to 69 per cent
Eastern
North Eastern
Rift Valley
Western
Nyanza Central
Coast
Nairobi
Note: The boundaries, names and designations used on the map do not imply official endorsement or acceptance by the United Nations.
100
80
60 58
51
40
40
33
26 26
23 22
(20)
20 18 17 18
14
12 12
0
Rural Urban Poorest Second Middle Fourth Richest No Primary Secondary Muslim No Roman Other Protestant/
education or higher religion Catholic religious other
groups Christian
Notes: Values presented here are based on at least 25 unweighted cases. Those based on 25 to 49 unweighted cases are shown in parentheses.
94% 86% 84% 78% 41% 31% 31% 28% 22% 15% 11% 2% 2% 0.4% 0.2%
Other ethnic
Mijikenda/
Samburu
Kalenjin
Turkana
Maasai
Swahili
Kamba
Somali
Kikuyu
groups
Taveta
Luhya
Embu
Meru
Taita/
Kisii
Luo
A Profile of Female Genital Mutilation in Kenya | 06
In Kenya, 3 per cent of girls under age 15 have undergone FGM
FIG. 4 Percentage of girls aged 0 to 14 years who have undergone FGM, by ethnicity
Kenya 3
Information collected
on FGM among girls
Somali 36
under age 15 reflects
their current but not
Kisii 16 final FGM status. Some
girls who have not
Other ethnic groups 5 been cut may still be
at risk once they reach
Samburu 4 the customary age for
Maasai
cutting. Therefore, the
3
prevalence for girls
Taita/Taveta 1 under age 15 is an
Ethnicity
underestimation of
Embu 1 the true extent of the
practice. Since age at
Meru 1 cutting varies among
settings, the amount of
Kalenjin 0.5
underestimation also
Kamba 0.4 varies (see Figure 7).
This should be kept in
Luhya 0.2 mind when interpreting
all FGM prevalence
Mijikenda/Swahili 0.1 data for this age group.
Turkana 0.1
Luo 0.0
Kikuyu 0.0
0 10 20 30 40 50
0.3 1 1
100 2 4 3
33
80
60 73
(100) 100 99 96 92 91
40
66
20
25
9
0.1 5
0
Meru Somali Samburu Other ethnic groups Kalenjin Maasai Kisii
Kenya Ethnicity
Notes: Figures may not add up to 100 per cent due to rounding. Values presented here are based on at least 25 unweighted cases. Those based on 25 to 49 unweighted cases are shown in parentheses. Data for some
ethnic groups are suppressed due to insufficient numbers of cases to perform the analysis.
Type of FGM: Sewn closed Cut, flesh removed Cut, no flesh removed/nicked Don’t know/missing
100 2 2
4 3
1
4
80
60
79
74
98 (98)
88 92 91 91
40
20
22 21
9 8 7
0 2 (2) 2
Kenya Ethnicity
Notes: Figures may not add up to 100 per cent due to rounding. Values presented here are based on at least 25 unweighted cases. Those based on 25 to 49 unweighted cases are shown in parentheses. Data for some
ethnic groups are suppressed due to insufficient numbers of cases to perform the analysis.
Age at cutting: Before 5 years 5 to 9 years 10 to 14 years At 15 years or after Don’t know/missing
1
100 2
3 3
15
24
24
0.2 29
80 12
44
54
(73) 70
60
44 50
58
40 67
49
41
20
(18)
28 25 30
13
(8)
5 4
0 1 2
Notes: Figures may not add up to 100 per cent due to rounding. Values presented here are based on at least 25 unweighted cases. Those based on 25 to 49 unweighted cases are shown in parentheses. Data for some
ethnic groups are suppressed due to insufficient numbers of cases to perform the analysis.
FIG. 8 Percentage of girls, boys, women and men aged 15 to 49 years who have heard of FGM and think the practice should stop, by age
93% 91%
15 to 19 years 15 to 19 years
92% 86%
45 to 49 years 45 to 49 years
92% 89%
15 to 49 years 15 to 49 years
Residence
Rural 91 88
Urban 94 89
Wealth quintile
Education
No education 58 55
Primary 93 87
Secondary or higher 97 93
Religion
Muslim 58 64
No religion 83 64
Other religious groups (92) 80
Roman Catholic 94 89
Protestant/other Christian 95 92
Notes: Values presented here are based on at least 25 unweighted cases. Those based on 25 to 49 unweighted cases are shown in parentheses.
100
96 97 97 97 97 97 97
94 95
93 93
86 87
84
80 78
76 77
60
43
41
40
31 31
28
22
20 17
15
11
2 2
0.4 0.2
0
Taita/Taveta
Other ethnic
Mijikenda/
Samburu
Kalenjin
Turkana
Maasai
Swahili
Kamba
Somali
Kikuyu
groups
Luhya
Embu
Meru
Kisii
Luo
A Profile of Female Genital Mutilation in Kenya | 14
Peninah Boke, 14, attends
Maeta Primary School in Migori
Country, Western Kenya. She is
the chair of the health club and
has stood up against FGM.
Opposition to the practice has risen, with the largest increase among the Kisii
FIG. 11 Percentage of girls and women aged 15 to 49 years who have heard of FGM and think the practice should stop, by ethnicity
2008-2009 2014
100 98 97 97 97 97 97
95
92 93 93
96 95
87
93 92 92
89 90
86 79 87
78
80
82
76
73
60
57
40
20 17
11
0
Somali Maasai Other Kisii Luo Taita/ Embu Meru Kikuyu Mijikenda/ Kalenjin Kamba Luhya
ethnic groups Taveta Swahili
Kenya Ethnicity
Notes: The 1998 Demographic and Health Survey is not included because the sample excluded the North Eastern region. The 2003 Demographic and Health Survey is not included because it did not collect data on attitudes.
Some ethnic groups in the 2014 Demographic and Health Survey are recategorized as ‘other ethnic groups’ for comparability with the 2008-2009 Demographic and Health Survey, thus the values for this category may not match
those presented elsewhere in the publication, and some ethnic groups which appear in other charts are not presented here. Data on attitudes towards FGM among boys and men were not collected in the 2008-2009 survey.
FIG. 12 Percentage of girls, women, boys and men aged 15 to 49 years who have heard of FGM and believe that the practice is required by religion, by religion
Protestant/
Girls and women Other religious Roman other
Muslim groups No religion Catholic Christian
4% 2% 2%
(7%)
44%
5%
Kenya Religion
2% 3%
6%
26%
36%
6%
Notes: Values presented here are based on at least 25 unweighted cases. Those based on 25 to 49 unweighted cases are shown in parentheses.
FIG. 13 Percentage of girls, women, boys and men aged 15 to 49 years who have heard of FGM and believe that the practice is required by the community, by ethnicity
87
83
80
72
60
40
40 37
35
30
24 24
20 19
11 11 10
8 8 8 9
6 6
4 4 3 3 4 4
2 1 1 1 1 2
0
Other ethnic
Taita/Taveta
Mijikenda/
Samburu
Kalenjin
Turkana
Maasai
Swahili
groups
Kamba
Somali
Kikuyu
Kenya
Luhya
Embu
Meru
Kisii
Luo
Ethnicity
Notes: Values presented here are based on at least 25 unweighted cases. Those based on 25 to 49 unweighted cases are shown in parentheses.
FIG. 14 Percentage of adolescent girls aged 15 to 19 years who have undergone FGM
100
As shown in
Figure 7, 24 per cent
of cutting occurs at
or after age 15.
80
Thus the percentage
of adolescent girls
aged 15 to 19
years who have
undergone FGM is
60 unlikely to reflect
the complete
prevalence of the
48 48 practice among this
cohort, as some
40 girls are still at risk
40 of FGM.
35
30
24
20
20
15
11
0
1974 1979 1984 1989 1994 1999 2004 2009 2014
Country Average annual rate of reduction of FGM (%) Current prevalence of FGM (%)
Kenya 4.3 21
Ethiopia 1.7 65
Eritrea 1.0 83
Sudan 0.4 87
Djibouti 0.4 94
Somalia 0.1 98
Notes: This figure includes all countries in Eastern and Southern Africa with nationally representative data on the prevalence of FGM. Countries are ranked from highest to lowest according to the 30-year average
annual rate of reduction.
1984 2014
North Rift
Central
Eastern Valley
Notes: Values presented here are based on at least 25 unweighted cases. Those based on 25 to 49 unweighted cases are shown in parentheses. Data for Nairobi are suppressed due to an insufficient number of cases
to perform the analysis for 1984.
FIG. 17 Percentage of adolescent girls aged 15 to 19 years who have undergone FGM, by ethnicity
Other
Kalenjin Meru ethnic Kikuyu
groups
37% 4% 1% 1%
5% 0.2% 0.0% 0.2%
Mijikenda/
Kamba Luo Luhya
Swahili
Notes: Values presented here are based on at least 25 unweighted cases. Those based on 25 to 49 unweighted cases are shown in parentheses. Ethnic groups with fewer than 25 unweighted cases at one or both
points in time are suppressed.
FIG. 18 Observed and projected percentage of adolescent girls aged 15 to 19 years who have undergone FGM
100
80
Percentage of adolescent
girls aged 15 to 19 years
who have undergone FGM
60
48 48
40
24
Percentage of adolescent girls
20
aged 15 to 19 years who are
11 expected to undergo FGM if:
6
3 3 Progress continues
0 0 Progress is accelerated
1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020 2025 2030 2035 2040 2045 2050
50
40
30 28.8
20.5
20
15.2 15.5
13.4
10.8 11.2
10 9.4
6.4
4.3 4.6 4.5
3.3
1.4
0.0 n/a
0
Kenya Region
Notes: The Western region is not shown since the prevalence of FGM is already below 1 per cent. Values based on fewer than 25 unweighted cases are suppressed. Data for Nairobi are suppressed due to an
insufficient number of cases to perform the analysis, thus the 30-year rate is marked as not available (n/a).
Kenya’s programme to end FGM seeks to respond to the multidimensional drivers and consequences of the practice, and contribute to
the Government’s target of ending it by 2022. The Ministry of Public Service and Gender leads the initiative, with contributions from line
ministries; faith-based, community-based, civil society and non-governmental organizations; and UN agencies. Article 53 of the 2010
Kenya Constitution, which articulates the right of every child to be protected from harmful cultural practices, underpins the drive for
elimination. Kenya enacted the Prohibition of Female Genital Mutilation Act 2011, and in 2019 adopted a revised National Policy for the
Eradication of FGM that has shaped the national programme.
1. Leadership and coordination: Progress towards ending FGM by 2030 4. Faith-based partnerships: In the North Eastern Region, where
depends on strong coordination at the national, county and subcounty practising communities profess Islamic faith, and in Nyanza, where
levels. The Anti-FGM Board, a semi-autonomous government agency under the Kuria Community has a Seventh Day Adventist following, taking
the Ministry of Public Service and Gender, coordinates an extensive network a religious approach to ending FGM is crucial. Partnerships with
of stakeholders, provides leadership and holds partners accountable. faith-based agencies and associations foster anti-FGM messages in
mosques and churches, and help delink the practice from any religion.
2. Comprehensive and innovative community engagement: The When highly respected religious scholars take part in community
voices, opinions and local knowledge of community members dialogue sessions and other outreach programmes, they can exert a
must be sought in all efforts to address FGM. Sustaining dialogue powerful influence in persuading communities to abandon FGM.
sessions with girls, women, boys and men to acknowledge the
problem, discuss solutions and recognize the challenges is an 5. Interventions targeting practitioners: Programmes aimed at both
important step. This process should conclude with a community traditional excisors and medical professionals aim to break the link
action plan that encourages girls to undergo all culturally between supply and demand. For traditional excisors, interventions
accepted rites of passage without having to endure FGM. focus on education around FGM as a violation of human rights, and
on opportunities for developing alternative skills. Among health-
3. Girls’ empowerment programmes: These include alternative care providers and medical students, the emphasis is on existing
rites of passage and mentorship programmes imparting life codes of conduct and regulations that prohibit medicalized FGM.
skills. Mentorship involves training girls to reject FGM, and
connecting them with local champions for the abandonment 6. Quality services: FGM-related services must effectively meet the needs of
of FGM as well as with law enforcement. Both can serve girls, and be located in close proximity to the family and community. Girls and
as resources for girls in resisting the practice. their families are encouraged to report incidents and seek quality professional
support to better cope with and resolve experiences of the practice.
Pantone Pink C