"Words written by a pen sharp as a scalpel": Gender and Medical Practice in the Early Fiction of Nawal El Saadawi and Fatmata Conteth

This article seeks to reveal how medical practice presents itself as a viable option for women, one that will bring with it respect and sexual equality, yet ultimately promotes gender-biased debates. I argue that medicine, a career that appears to provide agency in and of itself ultimately re-enforces a traditional gender discourse that the women involved in seek to escape. To this end I examine the role of hakimas (female doctors and midwives) in early nineteenth-century Egypt with the intention of firmly establishing that medicine was the only educational option for women. I emphasize that while medicine remains one of the most distinguished careers for a woman, it nevertheless leaves female practitioners socially undermined. As the early fiction of Nawal El Saadawi and Fatmata Conteth reveals, a medical career does not ensure a life free from preconceived notions of sexual and gender disparity. In fact, social injustice is mirrored in the theory and practice of medicine.