Margrethe Silberschmidt

Margrethe Silberschmidt

Guest Researcher

Fields of interest

Margrethe Silberschmidt has a combination of research, teaching and practical experience. Her field of specialization includes sexual and reproductive health and behaviour incl. HIV/AIDS; policy issues as well as gender and gender focused methodologies. She has several peer reviewed publications in international journals. She has also published a monograph 'Women forget that men are the masters': Gender antagonism and socio-economic change in Kisii District, Kenya. She has an extensive international network and has presented her work at a large number of national and international conferences.

Current research

Margrethe Silberschmidt's current research is a comparative study: "Constructions of masculinities and their influence on male sexual and reproductive health and behaviour in urban East Africa".

The aim of the research is to explore how culturally constructed ideals about masculinity and sexuality income and HIV/AIDS stricken urban areas in East Africa (Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and Kampala, Uganda) govern relations between genders and in particular men's sexual  health practices.

Central research questions are among others

  • have the different ways in which the two countries have dealt with the HIV/AIDS epidemic initiated behaviour change?
  • Have new standards for masculinity and sexual practices been set by Ugandan men?
  • If so, what are they, and have they opened up for more gender equality? 

Key features of the methodological approach are 

  1. the comparative approach
  2. the quantitative survey and 
  3. the qualitative approach: individual interviews and focus group discussions (both men and women were participated).

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