Paper short abstract:

Building on data from more than 25 years of research on female genital cutting, I will discuss Somali and Sudanese women's experiences with health care providers in Norway, regarding health conditions that may be caused by their genital cutting. I will also provide some provider perspectives.

Paper long abstract:

Among Somali and Sudanese women, the prevalence of the most severe forms of female genital cutting is common, i.e. a form by which specialized health care is often needed, including surgical procedures to facilitate menstruation, sexual intercourse, and childbirth. This practice of FGC, commonly referred to as pharaonic, is traditionally closely linked to ideas of identity, morality and womanhood. In Norway, as in other exile countries, they encounter societies and laws condemning the practice, and that tend to focus more on steps to abolish the practice, than on providing health care to girls and women suffering its consequences. Somali immigrants are in addition subjected to exposed to strong negative stereotypes, on this practice, as well as a host of other aspects of their life, such as lack of education and employment, religion, and gender roles in general.

In this paper I will present how Somali women in particular, experience and maneuver in their search for health care in such a setting, what they are missing, how they feel met and the care that they get, or don’t get. I will also present some of the challenges experienced by health care providers. I will also include some reflections on the researcher’s positionality, built on experiences from both personal data collection as an ethnic Norwegian researcher, and working with Somali and Sudanese research assistants.

The paper is based on several studies over a period of more than 25 years, mostly among Somali immigrants in Norway, but also some of Sudanese origin.