Egyptian women's perspectives on female genital mutilation

The present project is an exploratory study about the perspectives and attitudes of Egyptian women towards the act of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). To explore these perspectives, the principle investigator interviewed 12 Egyptian women in Alexandria, Egypt in 2015. Participants’ age ranged between 23 and 74 years. Interviews were translated, transcribed, and the content analyzed using a thematic content analysis. The five identified themes were: the view on FGM in Egypt vs. around the world, the origin of FGM, FGM’s role in religion vs. culture in Egypt, the impact of FGM on a woman’s private life, and FGM’s role in the future of Egyptian women. Data was then analyzed using data emmersion for content related to those themes. The resulting paper identifies reports on findings related to the themes, in effort to present a more holistic idea of the facilitators, barriers, and norms surrounding FGM