Awa Thiam

In pursuit of improving the lives and status of African women, Thiam was a founding member of the Commission of the Abolition of Sexual Mutilation (also known as CAMS or Commission pour l'Abolition des Mutilations Sexuelles, in French), which was later dissolved and resurrected as CAMS-International. She speaks extensively on the topic of female genital mutilation (FGM), claiming that the practice is merely a thinly-veiled form of patriarchal control. In her article for International Social Science Journal, Thiam states: "the purpose of these practices, whether it is admitted or not, is to control female sexuality. Some indeed do not hesitate to say that the aim is to reduce women’s hyper-sensuality. In any case the result remains the same: to make the young girl essentially a future reproductive and productive element. Hence, her life is taken over and mapped out for her from birth to death by a patriarchal society, which ensures that she is kept in her place at all stages of her development."

Though there were many factors involved in the decision, the country of Senegal did, in fact, ban FGM in January 1999 in response to female activist speaking out against the practice. However, it is reported that while this is a political victory, it may have come due to the fact that the largest people group in power at that point, the Wolof, did not practise FGM. There is still a large resistance in the country to the eradication of FGM. Awa Thiam still works to improve public health for the country of Senegal as Minister of Health and Social Action, and Chair of the Committee .

Having gained multiple degrees overseas, Thiam returned to Senegal, and became Assistant Professor of Research at the Fundamental Institute of Black Africa at Cheikh Anta Diop University of Dakar. In 1987, Thiam petitioned the institution to build a Department of Anthropology of the Sexes, but her idea was ultimately rejected by the administration.

Thiam is a strong advocate for the abolition of female genital mutilation (FGM). Her book Black Sisters, Speak Out: Feminism and Oppression in Black Africa (also published in English as Speak Out, Black Sisters: Feminism and Oppression in Black Africa), which was originally published in French as La Parole aux négresses in 1978, addresses this topic in depth. The book, one of the first of its kind, holds interviews of survivors and calls for change. It also passes judgement on patriarchy for inciting violence against women, by women, stating that "it would seem that males have forced women to become their own torturers, to butcher each other."

Awa Thiam (born 1936) is a Senegalese politician, academic, writer, and activist. She serves as Senegal's Director of the National Center for Assistance and Training of Women under the Ministry of Women and Children. She is an advocate against female genital mutilation (FGM), which she speaks on in her 1978 book La Parole aux négresses (also published in English in 1986 as Black Sisters, Speak Out: Feminism and Oppression in Black Africa). She has a body of work published internationally, in both French and English. In 1982, she founded the Commission pour l'Abolition des Mutilations Sexuelles (CAMS, or Commission for the Abolition of Sexual Mutilation, in English), which fights for the abolition of FGM. Thiam is among the women featured in the anthology Daughters of Africa.