Over 200 million women and girls alive today have been victims of Female Geni-tal Mutilation / Cutting, and another 3,6 million are at risk every year. This tradi-tional practice is widespread and has gained a lot of attention from Non-governmental organizations, scholars and medical professionals around the world, stating warnings about the harmful effects. Yet, the prevalence and continuance are still not regressing in a desirable rate. Many countries have enacted legislative actions against the practice, among these countries is the West African nation of The Gambia. The purpose of this qualitative study is to examine and analyse what experiences and perceptions NGOs in The Gambia have with using legislative ac-tion against FGM /C, how their work has changed due to the legislation as well as examine their perception on local community attitudes towards the law. This has been done using the theories of Cultural Relativism vs Universalism and through selected concepts within Hofstede's Theory of Cultural Dimensions. This study will theorise what happens when a law representing western norms and values gets implemented in a society where culture, traditions and the collective group is high-ly important. Our findings show that The Gambia, in particularly local communi-ties, holds a strong cultural relativistic mentality and is characterized by a collec-tivistic culture in which the power distance is high. This society puts emphasis on collective identity, solidarity and collective decisions as well as traditional heritage and cultural values. Implementing a law that promotes western values thus brings problems and a lack of efficiency.

Magister Artium (Development Studies) - MA(DVS) / Background: Sexual and reproductive health (SRH) is a right that should be guaranteed to every woman worldwide in order to have a healthy and safe sex life. In most Arab countries, including Egypt, there are different cultural, political, and religious factors that have contributed significantly to the manner that the society views and treats women’s bodies and sexuality. As a result, it is difficult to provide solid data and information to guide policymakers, policies, and to implement awareness and preventive programs. This thesis sought to address this gap by conducting a study looking at the intersectionality of women’s access to sexual and reproductive health services and information in Ismailia, Egypt. Methods: The relevant information was collected using qualitative methods. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with twelve married women and two key informant interviews with health professionals in the study area. Results: Intersectional theory was used to critically examine the various interacting factors such as gender, patriarchy, economic disadvantages, and other discriminatory systems that that can undermine women’s access to SRH information and services. The study revealed that married women suffer from the lack of access to proper SRH services and information. Conclusion: Married women’s experiences of accessing SRH services and information were affected by different intersecting factors. These factors are socio-economic, policy, cultural norms, power structure contexts, and privilege structures, and religious institutions. Recommendations were drafted to add more information and evidence related to Egyptian women and their SRH rights.

Female circumcision (FC) is the partial or total removal of the female genitalia for nonmedical reasons. This study was designed to examine the lived experiences of Somali women who underwent FC before coming to the United States. FC is widely carried out in Somalia with a prevalence of 98%, making Somalia the country with the highest percentage of circumcised women. There are short- and long-term consequences associated with FC such as bleeding, infection, and death. Therefore, it is important to understand how Somali women who underwent FC think and feel about circumcision, why they would continue the practice, and whether they would recommend the practice for others. Using a qualitative research method with a phenomenological approach aligned with the use of social convention theory as a conceptual framework, data were collected from 12 Somali women who underwent FC, who were living in the United States at the time of the study, who were 18 years old and above and who were recruited online through SurveyMonkey without disclosing their identities. Thirty-five open-ended questions were posted online for participants to complete. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis method was used for data analysis. The respondents reported experiencing negative consequences from FC practice including pain, miscarriages, and heavy bleeding. The majority of the women in the study supported the eradication of FC in all forms. Based on the findings of this study, possible implications for positive social change include enabling health professionals to create culturally-diverse education and care and altering the social convention of FC so that the morbidity and mortality caused by FC is reduced and the lives of girls and women in Somalia are improved.

This thesis will investigate to what extent the midwifery programme atselected Swedish universities is including the issue of female genitalmutilation (FGM) into their education and curriculum. This is an importantsubject to do research on since a lot of existing literature on the topic showsthat midwives in Sweden are seriously lacking in knowledge regarding thepractice of FGM. According to a study done by Tamaddon et al. (2006) lessthan 30% of the Swedish midwives believed that they had adequateknowledge of FGM. Another study of the issue of FGM showed thatSwedish midwives felt that their knowledge of FGM was lacking and that itwas a marginalized issue on their place of work (Widmark et al. 2002).The reason to why the focus of my research will be on midwifery studentsand teachers within the midwifery program is because the healthprofessionals who is most likely to meet circumcised women are midwives.According to Dawson et al. (2015) “Midwives are often the first providerswomen will see for their maternal health needs and therefore play a criticalrole in providing quality care and preventing the practice” (Dawson et al.2015 p 230).The chosen research topic fits smoothly into the broader peace anddevelopment area due to what has been mentioned earlier, the increase inpeople movement in the world today makes some issues a global challenge.Which has been the case of the practice of FGM, it is now time to understandthat this is no longer an issue only in the countries were FGM is traditionallypracticed, it is an issue and especially a challenge even in high incomecountries.The method to be used in this research is semi-structured interviews with acareful sampling process of participants, done by a purposive sampling. Itwill be a qualitative study based on a cross-sectional design.

FGM is practiced in around 30 countries, mainly in Africa, The Middle East, and Asia. An estimated 200 million girls and women have been cut anywhere between infancy and 15 years old. This practice is usually linked to traditions, cultures, and sometimes religion, although this seems to be more of a question of how religion is interpreted. There are 4 recognized types of FGM including various ways of cutting and removing parts of or all of the intimate sexual exterior organs of the female, and sometimes also sewing together the remaining parts. The purpose of this study was to describe non-governmental organizations preventive work against FGM in Kenya. The study has a qualitative design. All data, including interviews, was collected between January 26th and March 5th, 2023, by accompanying several NGOs in different parts of the country visiting different communities and carrying out individual semi-structured interviews with 6 different Kenyan NGOs that fight FGM locally. From these six interviews, three main categories and seven subcategories were identified. The main categories were Education, with subcategories Finishing School and Training Local Role Models in the communities, Local Activists, with subcategories Local solution and change from within and finally Empowerment with subcategories Equality and Equity, Women’s, Girls’ and Children’s Rights as well as tackling the difficulty with medicalization. The results show the necessity of training local role models to be able to stop FGM because change should come from within. Girls also need to finish school to learn about human, women’s, and children's rights and how to protect yourself against pregnancy. The preventive work also includes focusing on the medicalization of FGM. Today, FGM is performed in healthcare facilities by healthcare workers. The prevention work involves educating communities about the health risks of FGM, regardless of where it is performed. / Kvinnlig könsstympning utövas i 30 länder, främst i Afrika, mellanöstern och Asien. Uppskattningsvis har 200 miljoner kvinnor och flickor blivit stympade innan de fyllt 15 år. Utövandet av kvinnlig könsstympning är ofta förknippat med traditioner, kulturer och ibland även utövandet av olika religioner. Det finns fyra typer av kvinnlig könsstympning som inbegriper olika tillvägagångssätt för att avlägsna de yttre könsorganen, och ibland även sy ihop vävnaderna. Syftet med studien var att beskriva icke statliga organisationers förebyggande arbete mot kvinnlig könsstympning i Kenya. Studien är av kvalitativ design. Datainsamling gjordes mellan 26 januari 2023 till 5 Mars 2023 genom individuella, semi-strukturerade intervjuer med sex olika organisationer. Av dessa sex intervjuer identifierades tre huvudkategorier och sju underkategorier. Huvudkategorierna var utbildning med underkategorier gå klart skolan och utbildning av inflytelserika personer i samhället, Lokala Aktivister med underkategorier Lokala Lösningar och Förändring inifrån samt Egenmakt med underkategorier Jämställdhet och Jämlikhet, Kvinnors, Flickors och Barns rättigheter och hantera svårigheter av medikalisering. Resultatet visar på nödvändigheten av utbildning av lokala förebilder att för att kunna stoppa kvinnlig könsstympning eftersom förändring bör komma inifrån. Flickor behöver också få gå färdigt skolan för att lära sig bland annat om mänskliga, kvinnliga och barns rättigheter och hur man skyddar sig mot graviditet. I det förebyggande arbetet ingår också fokusering på medikalisering av kvinnlig könsstympning. Idag utförs kvinnlig könsstympning på sjukvårdsinrättningar av bland annat sjukvårdspersonal. Det förebyggande arbetet går ut på att utbilda samhällen om hälsoriskerna av kvinnlig könsstympning, oavsett var det utförs.

The aim of the study was to examine how advocacy workers from different governmental and non-governmental organisations work with female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) and gender equality in The Gambia. We further examined their experienced difficulties and the provided support to women exposed to FGM/C. The study was based on field observations of events, meetings and educational events, as well as semi-structured and open-ended interviews with ten participants. Through a thematic analysis, findings show that counselling were the main form of support, and the most experienced difficulties was the male dominance, the cultural belief and the culture of silence. Education, traditional forums and advocacy where therefore used as informative tools regarding gender roles, power positions and the harmfulness of FGM/C. Thus, findings confirm the importance of the continuous work with the gender roles, the social exclusion of the unmutilated women and the gatekeeping roles hindering the abandonment of the harmful practice.

Bakgrund: Kvinnlig könsstympning grundar sig i en mångtusenårig kulturell sed och praktiseras än idag. Det innebär att en viss del eller hela kvinnans yttre könsorgan tas bort. Oftast grundar det sig i gamla traditioner, religiösa eller icke-medicinska skäl. Cirka 200 miljoner kvinnor och flickor beräknas vara drabbade och flera är i riskzonen av att drabbas. I Afrika, Mellanöstern och Asien är proceduren normaliserad i vissa områden. Könsstympningen ger tillstötande svårigheter och medför allvarliga komplikationer som är livslånga och livsfarliga.   Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att belysa upplevelser av vården hos könsstympade kvinnor. Metod: En litteraturöversikt genomfördes med hjälp av tio artiklar. Artikelsökningar har gjorts med hjälp av databaserna Cinahl Complete och Pubmed. Åtta kvalitativa artiklar och två kvantitativa artiklar valdes. Artiklarna sammanfattades och analyserades utifrån Fribergs metod.    Resultat: Resultatet utifrån tre teman visade att kvinnorna upplevde stigmatisering, bristande bemötande och kompetens om ämnesområdet hos vårdpersonalen. Dock var en del nöjda över vården de fått.  Slutsats: Det finns fortfarande betydligt lite forskning om detta ämnesområde. I studierna framkom det att kvinnorna uppfattade otrevligt bemötande på grund av olika anledningar på vårdplatserna de besökt. Det visades också att sjuksköterskor saknar kunskap och kulturkompetens om könsstympning. / Background: Female genital mutilation is based on a millennial cultural practice and is still practiced today. This means that a certain part or all of the woman's external genitalia are removed. It’s usually based on old traditions, religious or non-medical reasons. Approximately 200 million women and girls are estimated to be affected and several are at risk of being affected. In Africa, the Middle East and Asia, the procedure is normalized in some areas. Genital mutilation causes adjacent difficulties and causes severe complications that are lifelong and life-threatening. Aim: The purpose of this study is to shed light on experiences of care in women with genital mutilation.   Method: A literature review was conducted with the help of ten articles. Article searches have been made using the databases, Cinahl Complete and Pubmed. Eight qualitative articles and two quantitative articles were selected. The articles were summarized and analyzed based on Friberg’s method.   Results: The results based on three themes showed that the women experienced stigma, lack of treatment and competence about the subject area among the care staff. However, some were satisfied with the care they received. Conclusion: There is still very little research on this subject. The studies showed that the women perceived unpleasant treatment due to various reasons in the care places they visited. It was also shown that nurses still lack knowledge and cultural competence about genital mutilation.

Bakgrund: Kvinnlig könsstympning innebär helt eller delvist avlägsnade av de externa genitalierna. Detta är ett globalt hälsoproblem och omkring 200 miljoner flickor/kvinnor i världen beräknas vara könsstympade. Varje år riskerar ytterligare 3,9 miljoner flickor att utsättas för könsstympning. Ingreppet anses vara ett sätt att kontrollera sexualitet och heder hos kvinnor. Kvinnlig könsstympning kan ge allvarliga akuta och långsiktiga komplikationer och konsekvenser för individen. Syfte: Att undersöka vårdpersonals kunskap och attityder till kvinnlig könsstympning. Metod: Totalt åtta empiriska artiklar med kvantitativ metod inkluderades i denna litteraturstudie. Dessa granskades och analyserades för att sedan sammanställas. Sökningarna av artiklarna utfördes i databaserna PubMed och Cinahl. Resultat: Resultatet av litteraturstudien presenteras i tre huvudkategorier (kunskap, utbildning och attityder) varav två av dessa även har underkategorier. Kunskaps- och utbildningsnivån hos vårdpersonal visade sig vara låg och attityderna varierade. Konklusion: Vårdpersonal behöver mer kunskap och utbildning om kvinnlig könsstympning och även en förändring gällande attityder. För att dra ytterligare slutsatser behövs mer och djupare forskning om ämnet.Nyckelord: Attityd, kunskap, kvinnlig könsstympning, vårdpersonal. / Background: Female genital mutilation involves complete or partial removal of theexternal genitalia. This is a global health problem and around 200 million girls/women inthe world are estimated to be genitally mutilated. Every year another 3,9 million girls areat risk of genital mutilation. The procedure is considered a way to control women's sexuality and honor. Female genital mutilation can have serious acute and long-termcomplications and consequences for the individual. Aim: The aim was to examine the knowledge and attitudes of healthcare professionalstowards female genital mutilation. Methods: A total of eight empirical articles with quantitative method was included in thisliterature study. These were quality checked, analyzed and then compiled. The searches forthe articles were performed in the databases PubMed and Cinahl. Results: The results of the literature study are presented in three main categories(knowledge, education and attitudes), two of these also have subcategories. The level ofknowledge and education turned out to be low and the attitudes varied. Conclusion: Healthcare professionals need more knowledge and education about femalegenital mutilation and a change in attitudes is requierd. In order to be able to draw furtherconclusions, more and deeper research on the subject is needed.

Bakgrund: Kvinnlig könsstympning har praktiserats i över 2000 år och enligt Unicef (2020) könsstympas omkring 3,9 miljoner flickor årligen, men beräknas uppnå 4,6 miljoner fall år 2030. Vissa flickor avlider och andra traumatiseras svårt av ingreppet. De senaste årens flyktingströmmar har lett till att kvinnlig könsstympning i högre utsträckning även utförs i Europa. Detta gör att frågan är ytterst angelägen för sjukvården. I Norden uppskattar man att det finns ca 100 000 människor som kommer från områden där kvinnlig könsstympning anses vara norm. Syfte: är att belysa skolsköterskors upplevelser av att möta flickor som är eller riskeras att könsstympas Metod: Kvalitativa intervjuer med elva skolsköterskor utspridda i landet. Resultat: Det framkom tre huvudkategorier i studien Identifiering av flickor som kan/är utsatta för könsstympning, Att uppmärksamma och finnas där och Samarbete och vidare arbete framåt. Konklusion: Hälsosamtalet visade sig vara det vanligaste och viktigaste sättet för skolsköterskorna för att kunna förebygga, förhindra och uppmärksamma dessa flickor som är eller riskerar att könsstympas. / Background: Female genital mutilation has been practiced for over 2000 years and according to Unicef (2020) about 3.9 million girls are genitally mutilated annually, but is estimated to reach 4.6 million cases by 2030. Some girls die and others are severely traumatized by the procedure. The influx of refugees in recent years has led to female genital mutilation being carried out to a greater extent in Europe as well. This means that the issue is extremely important for healthcare. In the Nordic countries, it is estimated that there are about 100,000 people who come from areas where female genital mutilation is considered the norm. Aim: is to shed light on school nurses' experiences of meeting girls who are or are at risk of being mutilated Method: Qualitative interviews with eleven school nurses spread across the country. Results: Three main categories emerged in the study Identification of girls who can/are exposed to genital mutilation, To pay attention and be there and Cooperation and further work ahead. Conclusion: The health talk turned out to be the most common and most important way for school nurses to be able to prevent, inhibit and draw attention to these girls who are or are at risk of genital mutilation.

This essay examines the prevalent practice of female genital mutilation (FGM) in Ethiopia and Somalia, focusing on the multifaceted consequences faced by women who undergo this procedure. FGM, deeply entrenched in the cultural fabric of both nations. This essay scrutinizes the physical and psychological repercussions experienced by women as a result of this gender-based practice.  Furthermore, this research extends its scope to investigate how the scarcity of water and limited access to proper hygiene facilities exacerbate the challenges faced by women who have undergone FGM. In regions plagued by water scarcity, where hygiene resources are insufficient, these challenges become even more pronounced, amplifying the risk of infections and complications.  By delving into the intersection of FGM, gender dynamics, and the environmental challenges linked to water scarcity, this essay aims to shed light on the unique struggles faced by women in Ethiopia and Somalia. It underscores the urgent need for holistic interventions that address both the socio-cultural aspects of FGM and the environmental factors that compound the physical and psychological consequences faced by women in these regions.  Our chosen research methodology centers around a thorough desk study employing Human Rights Theory, JMP Wash, and the Health Belief Model. This approach is designed to facilitate a comprehensive analysis, seeking to explore potential correlations between Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and factors related to water and sanitation. The findings presented in this essay provide valuable insights for policymakers, healthcare practitioners, and activists working to combat FGM and improve the overall well-being of women in Ethiopia and Somalia.