Research highlights

• Developed an evolutionary anthropology approach to assess women’s health in rural areas.
• Informed the revision of regional government policies in Ethiopia to better support women’s reproductive health.
• Strengthened partnerships between Ethiopian academics and development organisations.
• Informed anti-FGM/C campaign strategies through cultural evolution research and better data collection. 

Professor Mhairi Gibson from the Department of Anthropology and Archaeology has developed a novel approach to addressing public health and social policy issues, 

Her research uses methods and ideas from evolutionary biology to understand reproductive behaviour and child-care practices in rural settings.

This includes life history theory, a branch of evolutionary biology that explores variations in the survival, growth and reproduction of species.  

Her research has already to led to policy shifts in Ethiopia, while her work with local academics and NGOs has also helped to ensure rural development interventions are more sustainable. 

Assessing women’s needs and wellbeing

Professor Gibson first applied her ‘evolutionary’ approach to field research conducted in the Oromia region of South-Central Ethiopia. 
 
Her work found that labour-saving development initiatives, combined with an improved water supply, have led to larger family sizes.

This in turn has led to constrained household resources, child malnutrition, restricted out-migration and increased interest in contraception.

This poses significant challenges a region where local people struggle to access culturally appropriate forms of family planning. 

The findings also highlighted key gaps in regional development policies, prompting the Oromia government to revise its strategy.

Now, women’s reproductive health is routinely assessed in all rural development programmes. Communities also have stronger leverage to demand access to contraception and family planning services. 

Strengthening partnerships 

To ensure long-term impact, Professor Gibson has collaborated with Dr Tigist Grieve, co-founder of the UK-based NGO For-Ethiopia in a Knowledge Exchange Secondment funded by the Economic and Social Research Council.

This secondment contributed to the NGO shifting the focus of its development work to include short- and long-term impact analysis on areas of reproductive health and education. 

Professor Gibson and Dr Tigist Grieve also led a key workshop series at the University Addis Ababa on academic-stakeholder partnerships, increasing mutual capacity and scope for future evidence-based interventions to be developed locally in Ethiopia.

Empowering Ethiopian researchers 

Academic research on African health is often dominated by researchers from high-income countries, limiting the role of local researchers who have deeper cultural and contextual knowledge.  

Recognising this imbalance, Professor Gibson has also provided advanced methodological training and analytical computer software training  on packages like NVivo and MlwiN to staff and graduate students at Addis Ababa University.

The University has now incorporated this training into their teaching curriculum. It has created over 43 posts and training programmes for field staff and technicians. 

New insights into anti-FGM/C campaigns 

In another strand of research, Professor Gibson has helped to apply innovative research methods from cultural evolution and behavioural ecology to better understand female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) practices.

Analysing data from five West African countries, the research reveals that in ethnic groups where FGM/C is common, women who have undergone the practice tend to have more surviving children than those who have not.

Conversely, in ethnic groups where FGM/C is rare, uncut women have more surviving offspring who survive.  

This suggests that the persistence of FGM/C in certain communities may be driven by the perceived reproductive or survival advantages of conforming to the majority behaviour.

These insights help explain why FGM/C remains entrenched in some regions, despite ongoing local and international efforts to eliminate it. 

Closing the data gap in FGM/C reporting 

Another major challenges in fighting FGM/C is the lack of accurate data. Many surveys underreport the true extent of the practice due to social stigma and fear of legal repercussions. 

Professor Gibson’s research has demonstrated that better data collection methods are needed to monitor hidden FGM/C practices.

In 2019, she presented her findings to the UNFPA-UNICEF Joint Programme on the Elimination of Female Genital Mutilation, reaching over 40 technical specialists across 10 countries. 

Her insights have since influenced major NGOs, including 28 Too Many, a UK-based organisation fighting FGM/C globally, and the Orchid Project, which is doing critical works with grassroots communities to end FGM/C.