This study examines how development phases such as education, economy and living in urban or rural areas have an impact on the phenomenon female genital mutilation. A comparative study was made on the three African countries Sudan, Somalia and Sierra Leone. The study is written with information from sociological theories, surveys from the database MICS and established research in order to make an analysis. The purpose of this study is to make a contribution to the already made research on the topic of female genital mutilation. The question of the issue of the study is to analyse and describe how development can have an impact both positive and negative on the phenomenon of female genital mutilation. Furthermore, we want to investigate and understand to what extent living in urban and rural areas make a difference in female genital mutilation. How much of a difference does having a better education make whether mothers mutilate their daughters or not? Is having a better economy a difference or not? Using a quantitative method consisting of data collected from the database MICS we made Binary logistic regressions in order to answer the question of the study. The data consisted of already made surveys on the subject female genital mutilation in the countries Sudan, Somalia and Sierra Leone. The result from the analysis was that in the countries Somalia and Sierra Leone having a higher education makes a difference in whether a woman has heard of female genital mutilation or not. It also showed in these two countries that actually having a higher education increased the risk for women to be mutilated. In Sudan it showed that a having lower education also increased the risk of female genital mutilation. With the economy it showed that in all three countries having a higher economy increases the chances of being mutilated. The analyse also showed that if a family lives in urban areas the changes of the daughter being exposed to female genital mutilation decreases. The conclusion of the study is that the urbanisation that is happening in Africa today will make a big difference in the attitudes and the continuation of female genital mutilation. And having the chance of gaining a better education will also change the attitudes and the continuation of the phenomenon. Having a better economy will develop the family and especially the women to chance their belief of female genital mutilation.

Background Female genital cutting (FGC) is a persistent issue of global concern that carries various healthrisks on women and girls. FGC is almost universal in Egypt and despite continuous efforts, the decline of the practice is unsatisfactory. Maternal education is considered an important determinant of FGC among young girls, and it was suggested as a key intervention to promote the abandonment of this practice. This study aimed at investigating the association between the educational level of the mother and female genital cutting among young girls aged 1-14 years in Egypt. Methods This study is an analysis of secondary cross-sectional data extracted from the 2014 Egypt Demographic and Health Survey. The study sample involved 17,573 women of childbearing age. Multivariate logistic regression was performed to assess the association between the maternal level of education and daughter FGC. This study also examined other background characteristics of the mother for association with daughter FGC. Results Of the 17,573 ever-married women, 54% had daughter FGC. Multivariate logistic regression showed that maternal education was negatively associated with daughter FGC. Mothers with primary, secondary, and higher educational levels had lower odds of daughter FGC compared to uneducated mothers. The study also showed that wealthier mothers were less likely to have daughter FGC, while mothers who were circumcised had higher odds of daughter FGC. Conclusion This study revealed that maternal educational level, among other factors was associated with female genital cutting among girls aged 1-14 years in Egypt.

ABSTRACT Female genital mutilation and circumcision (FGM/C) is an expression that describes social and traditional actions performed for the removal of the clitoris and inner lips; labia minora as well as part of the outer lips; labia majora. The research has addressed the effects of this action on women in Ejagham community of the Southwest region of Cameroon. The study focuses on effects revealed during the research, including voices of the women who had undergone FGM/C, excisors recount, violence against women physical, psychological, social, and sexual effects.  In traditional African societies, cultural values should be upheld with dignity to humankind. Our traditional practices too, need to give honour to our bodies. Therefore, opinions from different groups within the Ejagham community are revealed in the discussion. More so, the study also found out that FGM/C was a practice performed on the girls and women on the cultural and traditional beliefs that the process signifies a rite of passage from girl to womanhood.  The process caused pain and violated the right of the young girls. The findings revealed that there are divided opinions on FGM/C within the community. Custodians of the Ejagham tradition that are in favour of the practice are conflicting with those who are against the practice on medical and human right justifications.  These different platforms play a prominent role in the various perceptions held by the people. A significant segment of the Ejagham community, together with some representatives of the international community, NGOs and the government of Cameroon are involved in efforts to bring about change in the community by eliminating the tradition through community-based awareness programs. These programs that are accessible by everybody has empowered people in the community with knowledge on the subject and provided the necessary resources that will help in eliminating the practice. The efforts have initiated a changing climate in the community; however, this does not yet mean that the tradition has been abolished. The paper shall also discuss the traditional and cultural reasons for the practice of FGM in Cameroon. The author will state International instruments, Conventions, the National laws, Action plan that is to eliminate or lead to the abandonment of FGM practices in Cameroon.  The paper will conclude with suitable suggestions to eradicate the practice of FGM/C, which is against Human Rights. Keywords: Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting, Human Rights, Ejagham, Community, Cameroon / <p>Comments from the Examiner have been included in the thesis</p> / Master in Peace and Development WorkABSTRACT Female genital mutilation and circumcision (FGM/C) is an expression that describes social and traditional actions performed for the removal of the clitoris and inner lips; labia minora as well as part of the outer lips; labia majora. The research has addressed the effects of this action on women in Ejagham community of the Southwest region of Cameroon. The study focuses on effects revealed during the research, including voices of the women who had undergone FGM/C, excisors recount, violence against women physical, psychological, social, and sexual effects. In traditional African societies, cultural values should be upheld with dignity to humankind. Our traditional practices too, need to give honour to our bodies. Therefore, opinions from different groups within the Ejagham community are revealed in the discussion. More so, the study also found out that FGM/C was a practice performed on the girls and women on the cultural and traditional beliefs that the process signifies a rite of passage from girl to womanhood. The process caused pain and violated the right of the young girls. The findings revealed that there are divided opinions on FGM/C within the community. Custodians of the Ejagham tradition that are in favour of the practice are conflicting with those who are against the practice on medical and human right justifications. These different platforms play a prominent role in the various perceptions held by the people. A significant segment of the Ejagham community, together with some representatives of the international community, NGOs and the government of Cameroon are involved in efforts to bring about change in the community by eliminating the tradition through community-based awareness programs. These programs that are accessible by everybody has empowered people in the community with knowledge on the subject and provided the necessary resources that will help in eliminating the practice. The efforts have initiated a changing climate in the community; however, this does not yet mean that the tradition has been abolished. The paper shall also discuss the traditional and cultural reasons for the practice of FGM in Cameroon. The author will state International instruments, Conventions, the National laws, Action plan that is to eliminate or lead to the abandonment of FGM practices in Cameroon. The paper will conclude with suitable suggestions to eradicate the practice of FGM/C, which is against Human Rights. Keywords: Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting, Human Rights, Ejagham, Community, Cameroon

Bakgrund: Kvinnlig könsstympning är ett kirurgiskt ingrepp i de kvinnliga genitalierna som av tradition utövas idag i flera delar av världen. Traditionen är vanlig i flera delar av Afrika, Asien och Mellanöstern och på grund av migration är det allt fler könsstympade kvinnor som bor i västvärlden. Kvinnlig könsstympning strider mot de mänskliga rättigheterna och den svensk lagstiftningen mot kvinnlig könsstympning. Könsstympning har inget medicinskt syfte och medför hälsorisker såväl som kortvariga och långvariga hälsoproblem som exempelvis förblödning, infektioner, menstruations- och miktionsproblematik. Problemformulering: För att kunna ge ett gott bemötande och en god omvårdnad till dessa kvinnor behöver sjuksköterskor i Sverige ha en djupare förståelse och större kunskap om detta fenomen. Syfte: Att belysa kvinnors upplevelser efter könsstympning. Metod: En litteraturöversikt som bygger på tio kvalitativa artiklar, söktes i databaserna Cinahl Complete, Medline och Pubmed. Datan analyserades med inspiration från Fribergs (2017) kvalitativ innehållsanalysmetod. Resultat: Insamlat data analyserades utifrån fyra teman. (1) Fysiska och psykiska följder (2) Att uthärda lidande och skam (3) Att upprätthålla familjens heder (4) Upplevelser vid mötet av vårdpersonal. Slutsats: Kvinnlig könsstympning konstateras vara ett folkhälsoproblem i Sverige. Traditionen utövas runt om i världen och medför stora hälsoproblem. Kunskapsbristen har en stor påverkan på kvinnornas vårdprocess och väg till välbefinnande. Detta beror till stor del på vårdpersonalens bristande kompetens och förståelse av fenomenet. Som resultat har kvinnor svårigheter med att kommunicera och dela med sig av sina problem, vilket har präglat och påverkat deras vardagliga liv negativt. Vårdpersonalen kan undvika detta genom att erhålla relevant information och kunskap om ingreppet och kulturen runt kvinnlig könsstympning, då det är ett vanligt förekommande och ett väsentligt ämne. / Background: Female genital mutilation is a traditional procedure concerning the female genitalia that is practiced today in several parts of the world. The tradition is common in several parts of Africa, Asia and the Middle East and due to migration, an increasing number of women with genital mutilation are living in the western world. Female genital mutilation is in opposition to human rights and the Swedish law against female genital mutilation (SFS 1982:316). Genital mutilation has no medical reasons and imposes health risks such as short and long-term health problems, for example: bleeding, infections, menstrual and urinary problems. Problem formulation: In order to be able to encounter and treat women affected by female genital mutilation properly, nurses in Sweden need to have a deeper understanding and knowledge of this phenomenon. Purpose: To illuminate women's experiences of problems after genital mutilation. Method: A literature study based on ten qualitative articles. (Keywords: Female genital mutilation, experiences and health/health problems) were used to search on the following databases Cinahl Complete, Medline and Pubmed. The analysis was inspired by Friberg's (2017) description of qualitative content analysis. Results: Four themes emerged from the analysis. (1) Physical and mental consequences (2) To endure suffering and shame (3) Maintaining the family honor (4) Experiences when meeting healthcare professionals. Conclusion: Female genital mutilation is found to be a public health problem in Sweden. The tradition is practiced around the world and can cause serious health problems. The lack of knowledge has a major impact on the women's care process and path to well-being as the healthcare professional’s care competence and understanding of female genital mutilation was found to be minimal. This has resulted in women's difficulty communicating and sharing their problems that affected their daily lives. Healthcare professionals can avoid this by obtaining relevant information and knowledge about the procedure as female genital mutilation is an essential subject.

Bakgrund Kvinnlig könsstympning innebär att hela eller delar av könsorganen avlägsnas. I världen uppskattas 100-140 miljoner kvinnor genomgått ingreppet. Kvinnlig könsstympning är främst förekommande i de västra och östra delarna av Afrika samt i Egypten. Ingreppet är inte en religiös plikt utan har sedan 2000 år tillbaka utförts som en kulturell sed. En kartläggning av faktorer som påverkar fortsatt utövande av kvinnlig könsstympning behövs för att få svar på vilka resurser i det förebyggande arbetet som har störst påverkan i avskaffningen av kvinnlig könsstympning. Kartläggningen kan ge vårdpersonal en riktning om vilka resurser som är viktiga i det förebyggande arbetet och möjlighet att influera berörda kvinnor till avskaffning av ingreppet. Syfte Syftet var att kartlägga faktorer som påverkar utövande av kvinnlig könsstympning. Metod Litteraturstudie baserad på vetenskapliga artiklar valdes som metod för att granska och sammanställa litteraturen och få en översikt över kunskapsläget av det valda ämnet kvinnlig könsstympning. Totalt hittades 19 relevanta artiklar genom databassökning i Pubmed och CINAHL samt manuell sökning. Resultat Utövandet av kvinnlig könsstympning var främst relaterat till tradition och anpassning i samhället. Kvinnor som motsatte sig ingreppet erhöll medieinnehåll och hade grundläggande kunskaper om medicinska komplikationer, religiösa förbud och utbildningsinterventioner. Attityder gentemot utövande av kvinnlig könsstympning har ett samband mellan kön, ålder, utbildningsnivå och bostadsområde. Låg avsikt att utöva ingreppet på sina döttrar var associerat med manligt kön, hög ålder samt hög utbildningsnivå av modern. Utvärderandet av lagförbudet i Egypten visade inga skillnader i mönstret av spridning av kvinnlig könsstympning före och efter lagförbudet. Lagförbudet sågs inte som en lösning utan som ett sätt att skapa konfrontation mellan regeringen och samhället. Olika utbildningsprogram/interventioner visade sig ha en påverkan på attitydförändring gentemot kvinnlig könsstympning. Slutsats Faktorer som påverkade utövandet av kvinnlig könsstympning är utbildning, kunskap, ålder, kön och geografi. Utbildningsinterventioner har en attitydpåverkan både direkt och indirekt. Detta samt hälsoutbildningar, personliga erfarenheter och interaktion med familj och vänner är de främsta källorna till kunskap om könsstympning. Lagstiftning mot ingreppet är inte tillräckligt. Det behövs åtgärder på kommunalnivå där hälso- och sjukvårdspersonal kan informera, ge stöd och påverka attityd till att stoppa denna sedvänja. Nyckelord: Litteraturstudie, kvinnlig könsstympning, kvinnlig omskärelse, förebyggande arbete, prevention, attityder, resurs.

Var 8e sekund könsstympas en flicka någonstans i världen och idag uppskattas 38’000 flickor och kvinnor som lever i Sverige ha utsatts för ingreppet. I Sverige är socialtjänsten en av de instanser som ansvarar för att möta, skydda och hjälpa dessa flickor och kvinnor - men arbetet med kvinnlig könsstympning har visat sig vara allt annat än lätt. Denna studie syftar till att undersöka socialsekreterares upplevelser av förutsättningarna för att arbeta med frågor som rör kvinnlig könsstympning inom ramen för socialt arbete. Detta genom att ställa frågor som om och hur socialsekreterarna arbetar med kvinnlig könsstympning, vad som anses påverka förutsättningarna med arbetet samt vilka hämmande respektive främjande faktorer socialsekreterarna upplever förekommer i arbetet med dessa frågor. Studien intar en induktiv, kvalitativ ansats och empirin består av intervjuer med socialsekreterare från olika enheter inom socialtjänsten. Empirin analyseras med hjälp av tematisk analys och studiens teoretiska ramverk består av systemteori, organisationsteori samt Foucaults teori om sexualitet. Studien resulterar i tre huvudteman och ett bi-tema vilka bedöms utgöra de mest betydelsefulla förutsättningarna för socialsekreterarna i arbetet med kvinnlig könsstympning. Dessa är kontextuella förutsättningar, kunskap som förutsättning, organisatoriska förutsättningar och det faktum att det rör det kvinnliga könet. / Every 8 seconds, a girl is genitally mutilated somewhere in the world - and today it is estimated that 38,000 girls or women living in Sweden have been subjected to the procedure. In Sweden, the Social Services are one of the agencies responsible for meeting, protecting, and helping these girls and women - but the work with female genital mutilation has proven to be anything but easy. This study aims to examine social workers' experiences of the conditions for working with issues related to female genital mutilation within social work. This is done by asking questions such as whether and how the social secretaries work with female genital mutilation, what is considered to affect the conditions of the work and what inhibiting and promoting factors the social secretaries experience occur in the work with these questions. The study takes an inductive, qualitative approach and the empirical data consists of interviews with social secretaries from various units within the Social Services. The data is analyzed with thematic analysis and the study's theoretical framework consists of systems theory, organizational theory and Foucault's theory of sexuality. The study results in three main themes and one secondary theme, which are perceived to be the most important prerequisites for the social secretaries in the work with female genital mutilation. These are contextual preconditions, knowledge as a precondition, organizational preconditions, and the fact that it regards the female gender.

South Africa has not escaped the rising prevalence and severe impact of HIV/AIDS in relation women. From an economic and social vantage point, the HIV/AIDS epidemic hits women the hardest, with underprivileged black women the most susceptible to the virus. The theoretical framework of this research focuses on the intersection between HIV/AIDS, gender inequality and gender violence, and more specifically, on certain cultural practices and customs that contribute towards and exacerbate women’s subordination and inequality, which in turn, increase women’s exposure to become infected with HIV. Relevant to this focus is inevitably an investigation of perceived threats to specific fundamental human rights as a result of some entrenched practices that continue to reinforce women’s subordinate position in society, aggravated by the high incidence of gender violence. / Constitutional, International & Indigenous Law / LL.M.

The overall policy goal of education for the Kenyan Government is the provision of education and training to all Kenyans as it is fundamental to the Government’s overall development strategy. This emphasis means that every Kenyan has the right to education and training no matter his/her socio-economic status. The Government has therefore allocated substantial resources and there has been notable achievements attained, but the sector still faces major challenges related to access, equity, and quality amongst others (Session paper no. 1 2005:2). One of these major challenges to access is the existence and persistence of retrogressive traditional practices such as female genital mutilation (FGM).The first concern of this study is that despite the immense awareness of the dangers on the victims in many aspects in life, and efforts to stamp it out, FGM still persists and thrives in many parts of the country to date. Secondly, there is an ever growing gender disparity in Kuria district, whereby women professionals are hard to come by. Even in the teaching profession which is associated with females in Kenya, there are a negligible number of Kuria female teachers. There is therefore need to liberate these girls from the persistent “senseless genital mutilation” by proper and relevant socialization and empowerment against cultural practices. The Cultural Lag theory of sociologist William F. Ogburn (1964) will be the underlying theoretical perspective of this study to explain the phenomenon, focusing explicitly on the / Sociology / DLITT(SOC)

The overall policy goal of education for the Kenyan Government is the provision of education and training to all Kenyans as it is fundamental to the Government’s overall development strategy. This emphasis means that every Kenyan has the right to education and training no matter his/her socio-economic status. The Government has therefore allocated substantial resources and there has been notable achievements attained, but the sector still faces major challenges related to access, equity, and quality amongst others (Session paper no. 1 2005:2). One of these major challenges to access is the existence and persistence of retrogressive traditional practices such as female genital mutilation (FGM).The first concern of this study is that despite the immense awareness of the dangers on the victims in many aspects in life, and efforts to stamp it out, FGM still persists and thrives in many parts of the country to date. Secondly, there is an ever growing gender disparity in Kuria district, whereby women professionals are hard to come by. Even in the teaching profession which is associated with females in Kenya, there are a negligible number of Kuria female teachers. There is therefore need to liberate these girls from the persistent “senseless genital mutilation” by proper and relevant socialization and empowerment against cultural practices. The Cultural Lag theory of sociologist William F. Ogburn (1964) will be the underlying theoretical perspective of this study to explain the phenomenon, focusing explicitly on the / Sociology / DLITT(SOC)

Ľubica Guindon :Universalism of Human Rights in the Light of pluralism of African cultural values The purpose of this thesis is to analyze actual discourse in international law terms about universal or culturally determined characters of human rights. This theoretical problem is introduced with the focus on legal qualification of female circumcision (FC/ FGM ) in international human rights protection. The study goes beyond the scope of international law and reaches cross-disciplinary analysis related to the African context and its cultural, political and social factors. Chapter One addresses the theoretical issues of the notion of human rights, its sources and models in international law. This passage challenges an African approach to human rights bills including a catalogue of individual duties towards family, state and society as a whole. This concern about collective identity of a person within his or her community is a very important feature of African understanding of human rights and human dignity, and can enrich the universal consensus in this field. Within the theoretical issues of the international human rights protection it is necessary to look at the global, regional and local dimension of legal regulation. The most influential strategies on the global level are universal treaties with...