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  • Seminar,

Selim Gulesci (Trinity College Dublin)

Published on November 9, 2023 – Updated on November 9, 2023
Date
Le 14 November 2023 De 12:15 à 13:15
Location
Pôle Tertiaire - Site La Rotonde - 26 avenue Léon Blum - 63000 Clermont-Ferrand
Salle 212

Séminaire recherche. Changing Harmful Norms through Information and Coordination: Experimental Evidence from Somalia

Changing Harmful Norms through  Information and Coordination: Experimental Evidence from Somalia


Selim Gulesci
Trinity College Dublin, BREAD, CEPR, J-PAL, LEAP and TIME

Coauthors : Pedro de Souza Ferreira, Eliana La Ferrara, David Smerdon, Munshi Sulaiman

Abstract

Female Genital Cutting (FGC) is a harmful practice affecting millions of women around the world. In Somalia, the prevalence of FGC is nearly universal (99 percent). We experimentally evaluate two interventions to decrease the prevalence of the most harmful type of FGC (infibulation) in Somalia: (1) correcting misperceptions about the support for the practice, and (2) public declarations of community members to abandon FGC. We find that on average community members overestimate the community support for infibulation. Correcting this misperception is effective in reducing infibulation. In the short-term, this leads to an increase in the intermediate type of FGC (Sunna), but it also increases the likelihood that parents report they plan not to cut their younger, uncut daughters. The public declaration treatment does not significantly affect infibulation, except in communities where participants had high priors about community support for abandoning the practice.

More information (AEA RCT Registry)