Hailey Johnston

MA thesis title: “Do No Harm? Discrepancies across Canadian Healthcare Policy and Obstetrics and Gynaecology Training for Treating Women affected by Female Genital Cutting.”

Abstract: “Female genital cutting (FGC) is a flashpoint feminist issue. It is a deeply stigmatized and controversial cultural practice that affects millions of women and girls internationally and is criminalized in Canada. My research set out to answer the questions: To what extent is obstetrics and gynaecology training in Canada structured to provide adequate, effective, and culturally sensitive care for women who have undergone FGC? Does this training reflect the broader framing of FGC as a “barbaric” practice? Through my research into medical education, I find that Canadian healthcare reflects norms and values of nationalism when considering whose bodies represent these standards. With the methodology of transnational feminism, these covert issues of structural violence that mark certain bodies as Other become more clearly recognizable. I challenge predominant knowledge, attitudes, and skills of healthcare practitioners to ultimately recommend four steps toward creating a new benchmark for culturally sensitive training and care.

Supervisor(s): Valerie Percival

My research interests include: Transnational decolonial feminisms, global health and gender, reproductive rights, Western epistemologies, female genital cutting, social determinants of health and structural violence, and health and gender-based policy analysis