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Introduction: Female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) comprises all procedures that involve the total or partial elimination of the external genitalia or any injury to the female genital organ for non-medical purposes. More than 200 million females have undergone the procedure globally, with a prevalence of 89.6% in Sierra Leone. Education is acknowledged as a fundamental strategy to end FGM/C. This study aims to assess women’s educational attainment and how this impacts their views on whether FGM/C should be discontinued in Sierra Leone. Methods: We used data from the 2013 Sierra Leone Demographic and Health Survey. A total of 15,228 women were included in the study. We carried out a descriptive analysis, followed by Binary Logistic Regression analyses. We presented the results of the Binary Logistic Regression as Crude Odds Ratios (COR) and Adjusted Odds Ratios (AOR) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Results: Most of the women with formal education (65.5%) and 15.6% of those without formal education indicated that FGM/C should be discontinued. Similarly, 35% of those aged 15–19 indicated that FGM/C should be discontinued. Women with a higher education level had a higher likelihood of reporting that FGM/C should be discontinued [AOR 4.02; CI 3.00–5.41]. Christian women [AOR 1.72; CI 1.44–2.04], those who reported that FGM/C is not required by religion [AOR 8.68; CI 7.29–10.34], wealthier women [AOR 1.37; CI 1.03–1.83] and those residing in the western part of Sierra Leone [AOR 1.61; CI 1.16–2.23] were more likely to state that FGM/C should be discontinued. In contrast, women in union [AOR 0.75; CI 0.62–0.91], circumcised women [AOR 0.41; CI 0.33–0.52], residents of the northern region [AOR 0.63; CI 0.46–0.85] and women aged 45–49 [AOR 0.66; CI 0.48–0.89] were less likely to report that FGM/C should be discontinued in Sierra Leone. Conclusion: This study supports the argument that education is crucial to end FGM/C. Age, religion and religious support for FGM/C, marital status, wealth status, region, place of residence, mothers’ experience of FGM/C and having a daughter at home are key influences on the discontinuation of FGM/C in Sierra Leone. The study demonstrates the need to pay critical attention to uneducated women, older women and women who have been circumcised to help Sierra Leone end FGM/C and increase its prospects of achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) three and five.
This study was conducted in Sierra Leone, which shares boundaries with Liberia to the southeast and Guinea to the northeast. Sierra Leone has a tropical climate with a diverse environment, ranging from savanna to rainforests, representing a total area of 71,740 km2. The country’s population according to the 2015 population and housing census was 7,092,113 [47]. More than half (4,187,016) of the population live in rural areas, whereas 41% (2,905,097) live in urban centres. Between 2004 and 2015, the country recorded an annual population growth rate of 3.2%. The sex ratio stands at 96.8 males per 100 females. The report also shows out of the 6,589,838 people aged three years and above, 55.4% have attended school while 44.2% have never attended school. The percentages of males currently in school (39.1%) and those who ever attended school (60%) are higher than their female counterparts (35.3% and 50.9% respectively). The proportion of the population that has never attended school in rural areas is 32.7% and 11.5% in urban areas. Freetown is the country’s capital and largest city. Agriculture is the dominant economic activity. About 78% of the population is Muslim and 21% is Christian. The country is divided into five administrative regions (Eastern, Northern, North West, Southern and Western Area) which are further divided into 14 districts [47]. This present study utilised data from the women’s recode file of the 2013 Sierra Leone Demographic and Health Survey (SLDHS) [31]. This was the second Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) in Sierra Leone. DHS collates data to monitor the population and public health situation of surveyed countries. The 2013 SLDHS explored information on FGM/C and several maternal and child health indicators such as nutrition, exclusive breastfeeding and fertility. The Measure DHS determined the sample to derive a reliable estimate for important variables in the country. This occurred by considering the rural/urban settings together with the four administrative regions and all 14 districts. The sample was stratified and determined in two main stages to achieve representativeness [31]. The response rate for the survey was 99%. The sampling procedure is extensively documented in the report [31]. The authors were granted access to utilise the survey dataset from the Measure DHS Program’s website. The dataset is available to the public via https://dhsprogram.com/data/available-datasets.cfm.
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