Like mother, like daughter? Female genital cutting in Minia, Egypt.

Evidence that 97 percent of ever-married Egyptian women were circumcised in 1995 fueled interest to understand the levels, determinants, and consequences of this practice. Qualitative data suggest that ideologies of femininity, pressure to conform to behaviors characterizing womanhood, and constraints to other opportunities perpetuate women's support for female genital cutting in Minia, Egypt. While the practice remains prevalent in Minia, age-specific probabilities of genital cutting are lower among daughters than mothers and among younger than older daughters. A mother's education is negatively associated with, and her circumcision status positively associated with, her intent and decision to circumcise a daughter. Increasing reliance on doctors to perform the procedure is positively associated with urban residence and father's education, indicating a need to understand local meanings of modernity. Overall, increasing girls' access to higher education may contribute to further declines in female genital cutting in this setting.