Social Dynamics of Abandonment of Harmful Practices: A New Look at the Theory

This 42-page working paper, published by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) Innocenti Research Centre, discusses the application of the social convention theory to the practice of female genital mutilation/ cutting (FGM/C). The theory compares footbinding in China to FGM/C in Africa, explains each practice in terms of simple game theory, and recommends that the methods that were used to end footbinding be adapted to end FGM/C.

According to the working paper, footbinding probably originated in the emperor's palace of a highly stratified China about a thousand years ago as a means of controlling the fidelity of female consorts, and over several centuries diffused down social strata and to the edges of the empire. Over time, it became a requirement for marriageability. The social dynamics behind the practice of FGM/C suggest that it may have emerged under similar conditions, since there were highly stratified empires in Nubia (present-day Sudan) and Mali. Culturally, FGM/C is linked to female honour and modesty, as well as chastity and fidelity, and is often a requirement for marriageability.

The working paper looks at the adoption, continuation, and abandonment of FGM/C in terms of game theory - the study of interdependent decision-making. The choice made by one player depends upon the choice of another player. In an interdependent larger group, the choice of each member depends on the choice of all members. Families carry out FGM/C in order to ensure marriageability of their daughters. What one family chooses to do depends on what other families in that community choose to do. No one family has an incentive to deviate.

The working paper looks at the abandonment of FGM/C via concepts of critical mass, tipping point, and revaluation. Authors say that a relatively small core group of first movers, called the critical mass, can conditionally resolve to abandon FGM/C, and then they have an incentive to recruit the remaining members of the community to conditionally join in the effort, until a large enough portion, called the tipping point, is willing to coordinate on stable abandonment. To attain stable abandonment, enough of the community must conditionally commit to it, and that conditional commitment must become an actual commitment, and a public commitment. Before a public commitment, the typical family believes that a majority of families expect others to cut. After the public commitment, the typical family believes that the majority of families expect others not to cut. The family now has no reason to go back to FGM/C.

The working paper examines how footbinding was ended in a single generation in urban and coastal China around the beginning of the 20th century. First, reformers educated the population by informing them that the rest of the world did not bind women's feet, making the idea of natural feet thinkable and doable. Second, they explained the advantages of natural feet and the disadvantages of bound feet. And finally, they formed "natural foot societies" whose members pledged not to allow their sons to marry women with bound feet, as well as not to bind their daughter's feet. The strategy was completely successful in obtaining permanent change, and authors say this supports the hypothesis that facilitated coordination is the key to ending such a practice.

According to the document, another challenge to abandonment of FGM/C is self-enforced beliefs, such as the belief that by cutting communities are doing the best for their children, or that communities which do not cut are not as morally upstanding. Overcoming these beliefs requires credible new information, and includes a discovery of the feasibility and desirability of the uncut alternative. The authors say that the most important development is that the underlying moral norm of care for one's children, which motivates the decision to practice FGM/C, can also inspire communities to reconsider the practice. This fundamental norm is essential to abandonment of FGM/C.

The working paper concludes that in development programmes there is often pressure both to focus on immediate needs relating to survival and development and to do so by addressing the underlying poverty, gender inequality, and violence. The empirical successes of approaches to ending FGM/C that are holistic, community-based, and that use human rights education to promote social transformation suggest that the goals of ending FGM/C and of ending poverty, gender inequality, and violence are not in conflict. Rather, these goals can be synergistic, each supporting the advancement of the other.