A surgeon and feminist, she fights against female genital mutilation (By Kenza Cissé, UN News)
Geneva, Switzerland (PANA) - To operate, to support, and to restore a part of their femininity that has been stolen from them: obstetric surgeon Sarah Abramowicz has made the fight against female genital mutilation one of her life's battles. Faced with the incomprehension and anger provoked by this practice, still too widespread in some African and Middle Eastern countries, she has chosen to "repair" the bodies of mutilated women and to give them back a part of their femininity.
A commitment that goes beyond the operating room and is part of a broader mobilisation in support of women's rights.
On the occasion of International Women's Day, which is celebrated on 8 March, her work draws attention to the victims of genital mutilation.
Last April, she participated for 12 days in the Muskoka project in Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire, in partnership with the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). This programme aims to educate and train doctors in West Africa to combat female genital mutilation.
On site, where one in three women is affected by excision, Sarah Abramowicz has carried out a total of nearly 50 operations and trained surgeons from Senegal, Benin, Chad and Cote d'Ivoire.
This was a field mission during which she continued her fight: to operate, support and contribute to rebuilding these women scarred in their flesh.
Male desires
For Sarah, the fight for wounded souls takes the form of a committed and concrete feminism. She says she is "horrified" by the fate of these young girls who suffer this act of "torture".
“When I started meeting circumcised women, I wondered how far the world would go to subject women to male desires. I told myself that it wasn’t possible and that something had to be done and a solution found to stop this kind of practice,” she laments.
She recounts the case of a young girl who left her country to escape female genital mutilation and because she was a lesbian. Due to her sexual orientation, “it was decided, after multiple tortures, to circumcise her to 'bring her back to her senses'”. When she arrived in France, she was taken in by associations and "she made a remarkable recovery".
Among the women she has operated on in France, "there is clearly an improvement in their feminine identity". "Many come because they want to have what was taken from them returned … There is an idea of becoming a woman again. They are all delighted because the organ is restored."
“There are women who know that by getting their pubic hair repaired, they sever the customary link with their family. Many women came to me saying, ‘I don’t talk to my mother about it.’ And then they talked to her about it afterwards. This allowed for a lot of openness with their mothers. We realise that the mothers often didn’t have a choice and that they are very happy that the daughters did it.”
Violence and injustice
This realisation of the extent of violence and injustice against women fuels in Sarah a deep concern about the restrictions on freedoms suffered by other women around the world.
“Everywhere, extremes are arriving, masculinists are arriving, women’s rights are declining everywhere. I confess that I am a little despaired, but we mustn’t, we will eventually get there, I’m sure of it, but how? How long will it take and at the cost of how many lives of suffering? I don’t know.”
Yet, beyond this worrying observation about the evolution of women's rights, her personal journey illustrates a determination that is concretely expressed on the ground. Sarah gives a slight smile when she recounts her experience in Cote d'Ivoire.
The young woman managed to assert herself among her male colleagues and had to overcome some preconceived notions. "I went with an anesthesiologist and another surgeon who was my junior. And it was a little complicated at first to make them understand that I was the senior one and the head of the mission."
The younger generation, for its part, is more aware of equality issues. The doctor recounts an anecdote from a lecture she was giving. "There were Guinean interns. And it was quite funny because some of them said, 'But you can't do that.' The female interns managed, extremely politely, with plenty of arguments, to silence the boys in less than a minute," she laughs.
Feminism as an anchor point
A committed feminist, she has been fighting this battle for a long time. "I consider feminism to be a great thing, and I know that there have been times in the past when it was somewhat shameful to be a feminist. I think we owe a great deal to feminists and I pay tribute to them, and I think that, unfortunately, we still very much need to be feminists."
Throughout her career, she has sometimes faced criticism regarding her work. "There are people who believe that being against female genital mutilation is being against cultural practices … Culture among the Fulani or the Soninke is not about female genital mutilation. Female genital mutilation and what it inflicts on women should not be part of it. And we cannot defend it under a cultural pretext."
Aware that the fight is far from over, Sarah calls for unity: "I would like all women to stand together in solidarity with each other, whatever their problem, whatever their suffering, so that we can finally achieve equality with men."
-0- PANA MA 6March2026
