Wijma, Barbro, Professor

By Stine Adrian on 27 Aug | 0 comments

Barbro Wijma is Professor of Gender and Medicine at Linköping University. She is also a medical doctor with gynaecology as her area of specialization, and a psychotherapist.

Barbro Wijma is a member of the GEXcel board and team leader of GEXcel Themes 4 and 8.

Her 1982 thesis approached “Fear of childbirth in pregnant women” from a quantitative and a qualitative approach, and was at that time pioneering. Combining feminist perspectives on sex/gender with her medical expertise has led her to explore interdisciplinary ways of bridging the gap between natural science approaches (with focus on biology and quantitative methodology, eg. epidemiology) with ethical, philosophical and sociological ones. Her research includes studies of women’s and men’s experiences of violence and violations in various contexts eg. partner relationships andin health care, and based on a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods, and on theories from ethics and sociology. Another field of interest is empowerment of women vis-à-vis gynaecological examinations and methods of teaching medical students how to do gynaecological examinations in a caring, sensitive and empathic way. To take control over the body, in particular in relation to sexual practices, is a related research area. Among others she leads a project about young women who feel pain during intercourse, reflected as an effect of dominating attitudes to sex and gender relations.