Listening to African Voices - FPZ

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participants who did not want to answer represented2%-10% of the interviewed sample:• Item assessing the participant’s age – numberof refusals: 173 (9.8% of the sample);• Item assessing the region of origin – numberof refusals: 43 (2.4% of the sample);• Item assessing the ethnic group affiliation– number of refusals: 45 (2.5% of thesample);• Item on the participant’s status regardingthe residence permit – number of refusals:174 (9.9% of the sample);• Item on the district of Hamburg where theparticipant lives – Number of refusals: 119(6.7% of the sample);• Item on the participant’s duration of stay inGermany – number of refusals: 2.4 (43% ofthe sample);• Item on the participant’s place of birth– number of refusals: 113 (6.4% of thesample);The researchers also repeatedly noted doubtson the data provided for the items mentionedin the list above. Thus, the validity of somesocio-demographic outcomes is uncertain.The average age of the interview participantswas 36 years. Over 88% of the interviewedparticipants fell in the age range from 15-44years. Women reported a significantly loweraverage age than men. The average durationof stay in Germany was between 10 and 11years (see table 7).Socio-demographicvariablesAge (in years)Over 40% of the participants were marriedat the time of the interview. The largemajority reported that they were marriedmonogamously, however, almost 3% of theinterviewees, 15 women and 34 men reportedthat they lived in a polygamous union.Out of the 15 women, four were married toan African man who had a European co-wife. The remainingnine women were married to African men who had morethan one African spouse. Out of the 34 polygamous men, 14were married to a European woman and had one or moreAfrican partners at the same time. The remaining 13 menwere polygamously married to at least two African women.Another 15% of both men and women reported that theywere divorced or widowed.Table 7: Socio-demographic characteristics of the interviewed samplewomen(n = 685)men(n = 1082)total sample(n = 1767)Mean (standard deviation) 34.7 (9.3) 36.8 (9.3) 36.0 (9.3)Range 16-75 15-82 15-83Average education level (in years)Mean (standard deviation) 11.91 (4.9) 12.81 (5.1) 12.5 (5.0)Range 0-27 0-27 0-27ReligionMuslim 183 (27.0%) 491 (45.9%) 674 (38.6%)Christian 475 (70.1%) 539 (50.4%) 1014 (58.0%)Traditional religion 4 (0.6%) 9 (0.8%) 13 (0.7%)None believers 16 (2.4%) 30 (2.8%) 46 (2.6%)Social statusMarried (monogamous) 314 (46.7%) 400 (37.3%) 714 (40.3%)Married (polygamous) 15 (2.2%) 34 (3.2%%) 49 (2.8%)Separated/divorced/widowed 96 (14.3%) 165 (15.4%) 261 (14.7)Never been married 22 248 (36.8%) 473 (44.1%) 721 (40.7%)Average total number of childrenGirls (range) 0.69 (0-6) 0.65 (0-7) 0.67 (0-7)Boys (range) 0.79 (0-4) 0.68 (0-4) 0.72 (0-4)Average number of children living in GermanyAverage girls (range) 0.55 (0-6) 0.45 (0-6) 0.49 (0-6)Average boys (range) 0.65 (0-4) 0.44 (0-4) 0.53 (0-4)Migrated from a(n)Urban area 495 (72.1%) 787 (72.4%) 1282 (72.3%)Rural area 145 (22.1%) 249 (22.9%) 394 (22.2%)Missing data 24 (3.5%) 38 (3.7%) 62 (3.5%)Does not want to answer 23 (2.3%) 11 (1.0%) 34 (2.0%)Time spent in Germany (in months)Mean (standard deviation) 129.0 (92.5) 127.03 127.8 (89.1)Range 1-552 0-576 0-576About 56% of the women and 45 % of the men had atleast one child in Germany which indicates that the childrenof men are more likely to remain in Africa than those ofwomen. The birth rate among immigrants is significantlylower than in their countries of origin: the women participantsreported on average 1.5 children and men 1.3 children(compare for example with NCP Nigeria and ICF Macro2009).Almost two thirds of the participants had children, but barelyhalf of them had their children living with them in Germany.22 Including participants living in a relationship without being marriedListening to African Voices 31
Reactions to the research topicThe reactions to the research ranged from enthusiastic andappreciative feelings to indifference and negative responsesof discomfort, rejection and even intimidation.Among the positive reactions were participants who werecurious to learn more about Plan, the project or FGM/C. Furtherencouraging responses came from committed opponentsto FGM/C who expressed interest in collaborating in futureactivities. There were also cheering voices of participants whofelt that the topic needed to be addressed among Africanimmigrant communities.The positive reactions were, however, relatively few comparedwith the large number of participants who did notthink of FGM/C as a relevant research topic for immigrants.They were rather surprised about the subject, stated thatsuch research should take place in Africa or expressed theopinion that immigrants and African people in general hadmore important issues to attend to. One man of Burkinabeorigin said for example: “It is good to work against theviolation of women rights, but I think Africa has other moreurgent problems to solve. Female circumcision is just one ofso many things.” Many men pointed out that their prioritieswere their residence and their work permits. They felt thatthe research should explore how to support them in thesedomains. Some women also expressed feelings of uneaseabout the level of intimacy of the questions.Last but not least, there was a considerable number of hostileor harsh reactions. Some participants perceived the questionslike an intrusion into their private matters – or like a Germanintrusion into African matters like this immigrant of Nigerianorigin who chose the following words to describe his feelings:“Plan International should mind their own business. This isour tradition and we don’t need them to tell us anythingabout it.”Others became unpleasant because they feared that theproject would increase discrimination, stigmatisation andprejudice against African immigrants. Many of them criticisedand felt offended by the way FGM/C was treated in the Germanmedia and were apprehensive that this project woulddeal with the matter as other NGOs had done before. A smallnumber of participants from Mali and Guinea felt personallyoffended that fellow Africans would take a role as researchersand engage in an activity that they perceived as treacherousand dangerous for their traditions. Intimidating reactions andeven insults were the result.The majority of the participants were from urban areas.The education level was 12.5 years. Men had on averageone year more education than women. About 11% of theparticipants had less than seven years of formal education(see figure below).Figure 2: Qualification level of the interviewed immigrant population13.2 %bachelor or master level16.4 %currently studying(University level)16.1 %skilled worker(terminated apprenticeship)3.6 %not clear4.5 %illiteracy (0 years)6.5 %primary school level(between 1-6 years)39.8 %secondary school level(between 7-14 years)As shown in table 8, about one third of the immigrantsreported that they were occupied as cleaners or help workersin bars, restaurants, ware houses and stores. Amongthe skilled workers, the common occupations were driver,craftsman (mechanics, carpenters) and hairdresser. AnotherTable 8: Current occupation/work of interviewed immigrant populationCurrent occupationWomen(%)Men(%)Totalsample(%)no work 23 10.0 12.8 11.7student, apprentice,language classes25.0 18.5 21.0restaurant/bar, warehouse,cleaning, shop sale27.0 36.8 33.0health care assistance 5.8 1.3 3.0skilled worker profession 8.6 12.9 11.2trader 3.8 9.5 7.3bachelor or master levelprofessions2.9 3.9 3.5house wife 15.2 0.2 6.0Other professions/not clear 1.8 4.2 3.3common occupation is the trading business to which almost10% of the men are committed, notably in the import/exportbusiness.When disaggregating the data by religion, certain significantdifferences become visible (see table 9): Muslim womenhave a significantly lower education level than Christian23 Including participants without work permission and job seekers.32Listening to African Voices
Page 3: Cover photo: Plan/Alf Berg - “Gir
Page 9 and 10: Within the cohort of daughters of t
Page 11 and 12: • To explore the level of awarene
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Page 15: • Many of them are struggling to
Page 18 and 19: 1 The interviewers approached diver
Page 20 and 21: that even close friends and people
Page 23 and 24: cies. 9 The table below displays th
Page 25 and 26: 4.7. FGM/C in Germany4.7.1. Estimat
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Page 29 and 30: illegally in Hamburg. The table is
Page 31: The largest proportions of intervie
Page 35 and 36: A small proportion of parents annou
Page 37 and 38: Germany. Some participants reported
Page 39 and 40: In order to determine the proportio
Page 41 and 42: “I am against the practice. It ha
Page 43 and 44: Table 18: Knowledge of German law a
Page 45 and 46: gin of the immigrants (see map in a
Page 47 and 48: of the Muslims believe that practic
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Page 51 and 52: irth, their mothers come from Afric
Page 53 and 54: None of the participants named infe
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Page 61 and 62: The majority of the participants (7
Page 67 and 68: It was not an easy task to get the
Page 69 and 70: “As I said, for a number of pract
Page 71 and 72: “Female circumcision is and will
Page 73 and 74: Table 36: Proportion of women and m
Page 75 and 76: Table 37: Knowledge of German law a
Page 77 and 78: that FGM/C had been carried out in
Page 79 and 80: 5.7.1. Protective factorsThe findin
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“The problem of female circumcisi
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The two remaining gynaecologists ha
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86Listening to African Voices
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and an acceptable job, uniting the
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Daughters who were born in Africa a
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making power to protect their daugh
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challenging and requires reaching v
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• In order to encourage an attitu
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BEHAVIOR CHANGE MODEL: Abolition of
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Institut National de la Statistique
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8.3. Question list for key informan
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8.5. Questionnaire for quantitative
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Evaluation of girls at riskQ214 CHE
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8.6. Questionnaire for quantitative
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Evaluation of girls at riskQ214 CHE
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8.7. Map of the geographical spread
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8.9. Map of the geographical spread
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