SDG #5 is to “Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.”
Within SDG #5 are 9 targets, of which we here focus on Target 5.3:
Eliminate all harmful practices, such as child, early and forced marriage and female genital mutilation
Target 5.3 has two indicators:
Indicator 5.3.1: Proportion of women aged 20–24 years who were married or in a union before age 15 and before age 18
Indicator 5.3.2: Proportion of girls and women aged 15–49 years who have undergone female genital mutilation, by age
The worldwide proportion of women married before age 15 was 4% as of 2022. We don’t have worldwide data for women married under age 18. But among countries with data, the highest rates were in Niger, where 76% of women married before 18.
Unpleasant as it may to be to discuss, imagine how much worse it could be to experience female genital mutilation. 230 million females experience this practice, often when girls are not yet adults.
UN agencies have collaborated to present the statement entitled Eliminating female genital mutilation. The statement approaches the topic from many perspectives:
health
human rights
development
social and cultural practices
children’s rights
women’s rights
reproductive rights.
The countries with rates of female genital mutilation greater than 80% of the female population as of 2020 include:
Mali
Guinea
Sierra Leone
Egypt
Sudan
Eritrea
Somalia (99% rate)
