title: Women's position and attitudes towards female genital mutilation in Egypt: A secondary analysis of the Egypt demographic and health surveys, 1995-2014.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Female genital mutilation (FGM) is still widespread in Egyptian society. It is strongly entrenched in local tradition and culture and has a strong link to the position of women. To eradicate the practice a major attitudinal change is a required for which an improvement in the social position of women is a prerequisite. This study examines the relationship between Egyptian women's social positions and their attitudes towards FGM, and investigates whether the spread of anti-FGM attitudes is related to the observed improvements in the position of women over time.
  
  
  METHODS
  Changes in attitudes towards FGM are tracked using data from the Egypt Demographic and Health Surveys from 1995 to 2014. Multilevel logistic regressions are used to estimate 1) the effects of indicators of a woman's social position on her attitude towards FGM, and 2) whether these effects change over time.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Literate, better educated and employed women are more likely to oppose FGM. Initially growing opposition to FGM was related to the expansion of women's education, but lately opposition to FGM also seems to have spread to other segments of Egyptian society.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The improvement of women's social position has certainly contributed to the spread of anti-FGM attitudes in Egyptian society. Better educated and less traditional women were at the heart of this change, and formed the basis from where anti-FGM sentiment has spread over wider segments of Egyptian society.
authors.affiliation: Department of Sociology, Universiteit Gent, Korte Meer 3-5, 9000, Ghent, Belgium. ronan.vanrossem@ugent.be.
authors.forename: Ronan
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Van Rossem
authors.affiliation: Department of Global Community Health and Behavioral Sciences, Tulane University, School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, 1440 Canal Street, New Orleans, LA, 70112, USA. dmeekers@tulane.edu.
authors.forename: Dominique
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Meekers
authors.affiliation: Department of Global Community Health and Behavioral Sciences, Tulane University, School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, 1440 Canal Street, New Orleans, LA, 70112, USA. agage@tulane.edu.
authors.forename: Anastasia J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Gage
mesh_terms: D001294:Attitude to Health / Q000208:ethnology*; D002562:Ceremonial Behavior; D019093:Circumcision, Female / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000523:psychology; D003466:Cultural Characteristics; D004534:Egypt / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior / Q000208:ethnology; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D011639:Public Opinion; D016387:Women's Health / Q000208:ethnology*