Published on November 27, 2025 – Updated on November 27, 2025
Location

Pôle Tertiaire - Site La Rotonde - 26 avenue Léon Blum - 63000 Clermont-Ferrand
Room 212

Research Seminar. Facing Pressure, Choosing Distance: Female Genital Cutting and Girls’ Mobility in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Melchior Clerc
CERDI, Université Clermont Auvergne

Abstract

This paper explores how individuals respond when facing a social norm they reject. Using data from 14 sub-Saharan African countries, I examine whether parents who oppose FGC seek to protect their daughters by relocating them—either through migration or fostering. Mothers do not migrate significantly more after giving birth to a girl in a high-risk environment. However, they foster girls more frequently than boys during the age window when cutting typically occurs. This effect is entirely driven by mothers who oppose the practice and reside in higher-prevalence areas, consistent with fostering being used as a protective strategy. In line with this, I find that in Senegal a decline in FGC prevalence due to the ban was followed by a reduction in the proportion of girls (and not boys) fostered in groups where the practice was deeply entrenched. By documenting the selective displacement of norm rejecters, this paper offers new insights into the persistence of harmful practices.