In Algeria, many women affected by breast cancer and having undergone a mastectomy are abandoned by their husbands. Considered as “half-women” by the society which still considers the disease as a taboo, they testify to denounce this stigmatization.
In Algeria, women with breast cancer suffer a double penalty. In addition to having to fight against cancer and learn to tame their bodies after a mastectomy, they also often have to face a trauma “worse than the disease”: being abandoned by their husband.
While in Algeria, breast cancer is the most common cancer with 9,000 to 10,000 cases recorded each year, including 3,500 deaths, estimates Farid Cherbal, professor of cancer genetics at the University of Algiers, many are the women affected to be rejected by their families after the removal of one or both breasts. This is revealed by an AFP article which gives voice to these women, whose illness is still considered “shameful” today.
Considered ‘half-women’ after mastectomy
Among those who have agreed to testify is Linda, a medical assistant mother of three, and abandoned by her husband after a mastectomy. “Cancer? It’s nothing compared to being rejected after 18 years of marriage,” she explains. Called “nass mraa” (half-woman) or “lamgataa” (the mutilated) by her husband after the operation, she was fortunately able to count on the support of her children as well as the association Nour doha (Daylight) , which helps cancer patients.
According to its president Samia Gasmi, Linda’s case is far from isolated. There are many Algerian women who, in addition to having to face cancer while undergoing heavy treatments, find themselves without support from their husbands. “Some sink into depression,” she says. “Others end up in reception centers because they have nowhere to go.”
This was the case with Saida. Now 55, she says that while she was still in hospital after her operation, her husband emptied their bank account and filed for divorce and custody of their children. Having found refuge in a hotel room, she ends up recovering her children. But this episode destroyed her. “We had known each other in college, we had a love marriage; he even participated in demonstrations for women’s rights, but did not hesitate for a second to throw me like shit!”
Safia, a 32-year-old teacher, made a radical choice to avoid any disappointment or trauma. “I preferred to break up before he did, my in-laws no longer wanted me. I had neither the strength nor the desire to fight.”
Breast cancer and its taboos
Sometimes, the fear of losing their life as a couple and their family pushes women to put their health at risk. Samia Gasmi tells that a woman preferred “to die with her two breasts rather than to accept an ablation”. Another started wearing the hijab before chemotherapy so she wouldn’t be judged by her in-laws.
“They consider their illness to be shameful”, analyzes the president of the Nour doha association. They all agreed to testify, but only anonymously. For women, mastectomy means losing part of their identity and femininity. Hence the taboo that still surrounds the treatment of breast cancer, abounds Yamina Rahou, sociologist at the Center for Research in Social and Cultural Anthropology (CRASC) in Oran. For her, these women suffer not only “from being amputated from a part (of the body) which symbolizes femininity”, but also “from the fact of no longer conforming to the image of women”.
As for the behavior of these men who reject their wives after breast cancer, it has, according to the theologian Kamel Chekkat, nothing to do with Islam. “It’s not a matter of religion but of upbringing. Religion urges spouses to support each other.” In Algeria, breast reconstruction after breast cancer is difficult: public health establishments offer it free of charge but it is rare to access it, as the services are saturated. The operation is also performed in private institutes but is intended for patients able to pay for the very expensive surgery.
As in the rest of the world, the number of breast cancers diagnosed per year in Algeria is increasing 5 times more than 20 years ago. This increase can be explained in particular by access to better means of screening, and by an increase in life expectancy.
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