"Never my daughters": a qualitative study regarding attitude change toward female genital cutting among Ethiopian and Eritrean families in Sweden

Health Care Women Int. 2009 Jan-Feb;30(1-2):114-33. doi: 10.1080/07399330802523741.

Abstract

To explore attitudes toward female genital cutting (FGC) in a migration perspective, qualitative interviews were conducted with men and women from Ethiopia and Eritrea in Sweden. We found firm rejection of all forms of FGC and absence of a guiding motive. Informants failed to see any meaning in upholding the custom. We conclude that children of Ethiopian or Eritrean parents resident in Sweden run little risk of being subjected to FGC. A societal structure prepared to deal with suspected cases of FGC with a high level of alertness should be combined with a healthy sceptical attitude toward exaggerations of risk estimates.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Anecdotes as Topic
  • Attitude to Health / ethnology*
  • Circumcision, Female / ethnology*
  • Circumcision, Female / statistics & numerical data
  • Cultural Characteristics
  • Emigration and Immigration / statistics & numerical data
  • Eritrea / ethnology
  • Ethiopia / ethnology
  • Female
  • Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Parent-Child Relations / ethnology*
  • Parenting / ethnology*
  • Socioeconomic Factors
  • Surveys and Questionnaires
  • Sweden / epidemiology