Abstract

In Egypt, sexual and reproductive health (SRH) education remains largely absent from national education and youth policy frameworks, reflecting a broader governance gap at the intersection of education, health, and gender policy. This qualitative study explores how the lack of formal sexuality education shapes women’s knowledge, perceptions, and sexual and reproductive experiences across the life course, drawing on in-depth interviews with twelve Egyptian women from diverse marital backgrounds. The findings point to persistent gaps in basic SRH knowledge, early exposure to shame and stigma, and reliance on informal and often unreliable sources of information, which participants linked to fear of intimacy, misconceptions surrounding consent and virginity, constrained sexual and contraceptive autonomy, and delayed access to appropriate medical care. While the study does not seek to produce generalizable claims, nor to establish a direct or linear causal relationship between the absence of comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) and specific health or relational outcomes, it offers an explanatory analysis of how limited access to structured SRH knowledge is associated with patterns of vulnerability, constrained autonomy, and delayed care, as described by participants. The study argues that comprehensive sexuality education, defined as age-appropriate, curriculum-based education addressing bodily knowledge, consent, relationships, and reproductive health, represents one potential public policy tool that can contribute to more informed decision-making, improved wellbeing, and gender-responsive development in Egypt.

School

School of Global Affairs and Public Policy

Department

Public Policy & Administration Department

Degree Name

MA in Public Policy

Graduation Date

Fall 2-15-2026

Submission Date

1-28-2026

First Advisor

Ghada Barsoum

Committee Member 1

Rana Hendy

Committee Member 2

Nahla Tawab

Extent

100 p.

Document Type

Master's Thesis

Institutional Review Board (IRB) Approval

Approval has been obtained for this item

Disclosure of AI Use

Thesis editing and/or reviewing

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Public Policy Commons

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