Background: Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is a public health concern with negative consequences on women's health. It is a harmful practice which is recognized in international discourses on public health as a form of genderbased violence. Women are not only victims of this, but also perpetrators. The practice of FGM remains a social norm which is difficult to change because it is deeply rooted in tradition and is embedded in the patriarchal system. However, some women have managed to change their attitudes towards it and have spoken out against it. This study identifies and describes turning points that have been defined as significant and critical events in the lives of the women, and that have engendered changes in their attitudes towards the practice of FGM. Methods: We have conducted an inductive qualitative study based on the life story approach, where we interviewed 15 women who have undergone FGM. During the interviews, we discussed and identified the turning points that gave the research participants the courage to change their position regarding FGM. The analysis drew on lifeline constructions and thematic analysis. Results: Six common turning points relating to a change in attitude towards FGM were identified: turning points related to (i) encounters with health professionals, (ii) education, (iii) social interactions with other cultures and their own culture, (iv) experiences of motherhood, (v) repeated pain during sexual or reproductive activity, and (vi) witnessing the effects of some harmful consequences of FGM on loved ones.
This paper discusses an aspect of empowerment in relation to the central human capabilities for women with FGM/C in the diaspora. Many women who have undergone the practice of FGM/C come from societies where gender inequalities and gender-based discrimination between men and women persist, which compromises their capabilities, and many find themselves in vulnerable positions in their relationships with men, at work and in their everyday-life. The participants in this study however appeared somehow to have been empowered through certain health-promoting activities where they exercised agency in the western social context, they reside in. This paper examines the empowerment gained by the migrant women with FGM/C after participating in health-promoting activities. We compared this form of empowerment to the reinforcement of their capabilities according to Nussbaum's central human capabilities. Drawing on Nussbaum's list as a starting point we explore the relationship between capabilities and empowerment. We found that some central human capabilities appeared to be reinforced through health-promoting activities, whereas issues relating to asylum seeking became a
Background: Female Genital Mutilation remains a public health concern with negative consequences on women’s health. It is a harmful practice and recognized in international discourses on public health as a form of gender-based violence of which women are not only victims but also perpetrators. The practice of FGM remains a social norm which is difficult to change because of its deep roots in tradition and how it is embedded in the patriarchal system. However, some women succeeded in changing their attitudes towards it and speak out against it. This study identifies and describes turning points defined as significant and critical events in the lives of the women, that create changes towards the practice of FGM. Methods: We conducted an inductive qualitative study based on the life story approach, where we interviewed 15 women with FGM. During the interviews, the turning points that gave them the courage to change were identified together with the research participants. The analysis drew on lifeline reconstructions and thematic analysis. Results: Six common turning points relating to a change in attitude towards FGM were identified: turning points related to (i) encounters with health professionals, (ii) education, (iii) social interactions with other cultures and their own culture, (iv) experiences of motherhood, (v) repeated pain during sexual or reproductive activity, and (vi) witnessing some harmful consequences of FGM towards loved ones. Conclusion: The turning points identified challenged the understanding of what it means to be a ‘member’ of the community in a patriarchal system, a ‘normal woman’ according to the community and what it means to be a ‘good mother’. Besides, the turning points found were expressed together with some issues related to emotional responses and coming to terms with conflicts of loyalty, which we see as possible common mechanisms to explain the change experienced by the women in our sample.
The practice of female genital mutilation (FGM) is a social norm embedded in the patriarchal system and is resistant to change due to its roots in the tradition of the practising communities. Despite this difficulty in change, some women succeed in changing their attitudes towards the practice. In trying to understand what makes these women change their attitudes, we identified in a previous study, the critical life events at which change occurs (turning point). These turning points were described with emotions and conflicting feelings based on which we hypothesised that emotion regulation and the resolution of conflicts of loyalty might be possible mechanisms that explain the change of attitudes by the women. In this article, we sought to investigate how the mechanisms interact and how they were at play to explain the change. We, therefore, triangulated our previous data, fifteen women interviewed twice, with the published life stories and public testimonies of 10 women with FGM, and interviews of six experts chosen for their complementary fields of expertise to discuss the emerging concepts and theory, generated by our study. The data were analysed using framework analysis and an element of the grounded theory approach (constant comparison). As a result of our theorisation process, we propose a model of change in five stages (Emotion suppression, The awakening, The clash, Re-appropriation of self, and Reconciliation). This describes the process of a woman’s journey from compliance with FGM and community norms to non-compliance. Our study reveals how the women whose stories were analysed, moved from being full members of their community at the cost of suppressing their emotions and denying their selves, to becoming their whole selves while symbolically remaining members of their communities through the forgiveness of their mothers.
Background Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) remains a public health concern with negative consequences on women’s health. It is a harmful practice and recognized in international discourses on public health as a form of gender-based violence of which women are not only victims, but also perpetrators. Although the practice of FGM remains a social norm which is difficult to change because of its deep roots in tradition and how it is embedded in the patriarchal system, some women have changed their attitudes towards it and speak out against it. This study identifies and describes turning points (TP) defined as significant events in the lives of the women, that create changes towards the practice of FGM.Methods We conducted an inductive qualitative study based on the life story approach where we interviewed 15 women with FGM. During the interviews the turning points that gave them the courage to change were identified together with the research participants. The analysis drew on lifeline reconstructions and thematic analysis.Results Six common turning points relating to a change in attitude towards FGM were identified: TPs related to encounters with health professionals, education, social interactions with other cultures and their own culture, experiences of motherhood, repeated pain during sexual or reproductive activity and to the fact witnessing some harmful consequences of FGM towards loved ones.Conclusion The turning points identified challenged the understanding of what it means to be a ‘member’ of the community in a patriarchal system, a ‘normal woman’ according to the community and what it means to be a good mother. In addition, the TPs found were expressed together with some issues related to emotional responses and coming to terms with conflict of loyalty, which we see as possible mechanisms to explain the change experienced by the women in our sample.
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