Symbolic Gender Politics, Religious Group Identity, and the Decline in Female Genital Cutting in Minya, Egypt

The introduction of female genital cutting to Egypt predates the arrival of Christianity and Islam. Elsewhere, a belief that the practice is religiously significant has justified its continuation, and a belief that it contradicts religious tenets has instigated its abandonment. Findings from Minya, Egypt, show more rapid declines in the prevalence of female genital cutting and more negative effects of maternal education on the odds of circumcising daughters among Christian compared to Muslim families. Such differences have emerged as Islamists have engaged the state in public debates over women's authentic roles and as Christian voluntary organizations have adopted alternative "gender symbols" as indicators of group identity in public discourses on development.