Since September 2017 CRWI Diotima participates in the transnational research ofthe European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) upon the practice of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM).
The research, which takes place in Belgium, France, Italy, Malta and Greece, utilizes qualitative data gathered by the 4 Focus Groups, formatted by the voluntary participation of women originating from countries in which FGM is considered an acceptable or even widespread practice, aiming at understanding the full range of the risk for women and girls, residing in the European Union and at the same time being members of corresponding communities.
Female and male research participants will be selected according to the following criteria:
- Migrants from high FGM prevalence countries/ethnicities
- Migrants with a long history of migration to Europe
- Recent migrants, i.e. asylum seekers
- First and second generation migrants
The key objectives of the research on FGM practice are:
- an improved understanding of factors contributing to the maintenance or abandonment of the practice in the 6 Member States
- an improved understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of prevention and protection policies and services in each Member State
- an improved understanding of members from FGM practising communities’ awareness of prevention and protection services
- an improved understanding of how members from FGM practising communities’ sense of identity and belonging may be linked to FGM
- data that will help identify appropriate, sensitive and more effective policies for members from FGM practising communities residing or seeking asylum in the EU
- in-depth qualitative data to contextualise the FGM prevalence data for each Member State
