Both child marriage and female circumcision are clearly on the decline but the pace of change is still too slow. Promoting faster change requires winning the hearts and minds of families practicing the traditions. This requires strategies that understand their rationales for the practices and regional variations. For instance, while child marriage is more prevalent in northern Ethiopia, female circumcision is more common in the parts of the south and east. A successful strategy also requires understanding variations in the practices. For instance, female circumcision is carried out just after birth in the north while it is a prelude to marriage in much of the south. Therefore, a strategy to eliminate the practice in the south should aim to convince girls who are not yet circumcised to avoid the practice, while in the north it needs to persuade adults, particularly mothers, who arrange the circumcision of infants.
