Tre generationers kurdiska kvinnors syn på heder

Abstract This study focuses on three generations of Kurdish women's view on honor. The study is a qualitative research based on three individual interviews. The aim of this study is to examine how three generations of immigrant women from a culture of honor is influenced over time by the majority culture and its values together with how these women affect each other mutually both consciously and unconsciously within the family. The study is based on two questions: What does"honor" mean to the three generations of women who are Muslim and Kurdish? Did these three generations of women’s idea of honor change over time as they have lived in Sweden? Results of this study have shown that the concept of honor has its focus on the woman's body, sexuality and chastity. Men’s dominance in the Kurdish culture creates a control that governs women's behavior to not bring shame to her family. Women who cannot maintain their chastity is considered to have dishonored the family honor, and often gets abandoned by society in which they live. Keywords: Honor, honor violence, control, sham