title: Female circumcision in Somalia and women's motives.
abstract: Two hundred and ninety Somalian women have participated in a study. They responded adequately to the questionnaire administered. One hundred percent of these women were circumcised, despite their relatively high socio-economic status as shown by their educational level. Eighty-eight percent of them had been circumcised with excision and infibulation, 6.5% were circumcised with clitoridectomy and the remaining 5.5% with Sunna. The majority of these women justified the practice of female circumcision with religious reasons and all were willing to circumcise their daughters. Fifty-two percent of the respondents had been operated on by medically untrained persons, usually traditional birth attendants and the majority were operated on at home.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University Hospital, Uppsala, Sweden.
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Dirie
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Lindmark
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002944:Circumcision, Male / Q000379:methods / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007514:Islam; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012998:Somalia; D014930:Women / Q000523:psychology*