Migration and female genital mutilation: Can migrants help change the social norm?

More than 100 million women and girls in the world have had their genitals cut for cultural, religious, or other non-medical reasons. Even though international organizations condemn female genital mutilation (FGM), or cutting, as a violation of human rights, and most nations have banned it, it remains prevalent in many African countries, and is slow to decline. This persistence raises questions about the effectiveness of international and national laws prohibiting the practice as well as the potential role of returning migrants in changing embedded cultural norms. This article looks at whether migration changes migrants’ opinions and attitudes to this custom and if so, do they transfer the new norms to their origin countries?