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| It’s believed the girls are regularly examined, allegedly to ascertain if they’re still virgins. Picture: Stock.xchng. |
People Opposing Women
Abuse (POWA) has slammed an alleged bursary programme that funds studies
for young women, but only if they can prove they’re virgins.
Eyewitness
News report continues:
The
Maidens Bursary was created by the KwaZulu-Natal municipality to
fund higher education for young women.
It’s
been reported that 16 young South African women are the beneficiaries of the
scholarship, which funds their higher education.
It’s
believed the girls are regularly examined, allegedly to ascertain if they’re
still virgins.
POWA’s
Palesa Mpapa said, “The fact that we are align it to the right to education is
not making sense. It’s also discriminating in that within the girls being lured
into bursaries on the basis of virginity and what are we saying about boys.’
Mpapa
added that the practice of virginity testing is unconstitutional.
“If
anyone wants to keep their virginity, it’s their right to do it in their
individual capacity. It’s a personal issue, which is not supposed to be done in
public and it’s also not good that the agencies are using it in order for
the girls to get bursaries.”
The
Women’s Ministry have been unavailable for comment.
The
Uthukela District Municipality says it created the so called “virgin bursaries”
to deter young women from getting involved with older men.
Mayor
Dudu Mazibuko says the program is meant to encourage young girls to abstain
from sex and focus of education.
“There
was a study by the health department that [found that] young girls are more
vulnerable than boys. There is no pressure at all, in fact this is
an incentive because we are talking girls that have taken the
decision to keep their virginity.”
Mazibuko
said, “Young girls are more vulnerable, they are the ones that fall in love
with sugar daddies, get diseases and fall pregnant and then their lives are
messed up.”
But
Professor Ann Skelton from the Centre for Child Law says the program is
discriminatory
“Obviously, discrimination
is like for example saying we would give this bursary to women is a form of
discrimination but it’s a positive discrimination. However, when you start
cutting other people out of the mix because of this kind of
requirement then you are in the territory of unfair discrimination.”
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|
A recent parade
in Uthukela. (Source: Uthukela Municipality Facebook page)
|
16 Young South
African Women Receive Scholarship for Staying Virgins
SAPeole
reports that a KwaZulu-Natal municipality in South Africa has
awarded scholarships to 16 young women who are virgins and who will
undergo tests throughout the course of their studies to prove that they
remain “pure”.
This
was the condition given to the 16, who were awarded the Maidens
Bursary Award from the Uthukela District Municipality. According to news
reports on Friday, the municipality introduced the new category of bursaries
for higher education during its Mayoral Matric Excellence Awards on January 11.
The
bursary was strongly criticized by the organization People Opposing Women
Abuse.
“POWA
advocates for bringing an end to the culture of virginity testing as it
infringes on the Constitutional Right to Privacy,” said Palesa Mpapa, legal
manager for POWA, in a statement. “It also is a discriminatory practice against
girls as boys are never publicly tested for virginity, yet they are parties to
the cause for loss of virginity. This practice stigmatizes girls who could have
lost virginity through rape or incest.
“Worsely
this is a patriachal mechanism of controlling women’s sexuality for marriage
and it does not link to educational success.”
The
new category of bursaries – there were 113 bursaries awarded in total – were
apparently the idea of Uthukela District Mayor Dudu Mazibuko, who was
quoted as saying they were intended to stop young women from getting involved
with older men. A spokesman for the municipality reportedly said the
bursaries were intended to encourage young girls to stay pure and focus on their
education.
Source:
SAPeople
S. African Mayor Awards Scholarships To
Virgin Women
AP
reports that a South African mayor has awarded college scholarships to 16 young
women for remaining virgins to encourage others to be "pure and focus on
school," her spokesman said Sunday.
The
scholarship was introduced this year and has been awarded to young women from
the Uthukela district in the eastern KwaZulu-Natal province, mayoral spokesman
Jabulani Mkhonza said. Each year the mayor's office awards scholarships to more
than 100 promising high school and university students from the area, he said.
The
young women who applied for the scholarships voluntarily stayed virgins and
agreed to have regular virginity tests to keep their funding, Uthukela Mayor
Dudu Mazibuko told South African talk radio station 702.
"To
us, it's just to say thank you for keeping yourself and you can still keep
yourself for the next three years until you get your degree or
certificate," Mazibuko said.
The
grants will be renewed "as long as the child can produce a certificate
that she is still a virgin," she said. The scholarships focus on young
women because they are more vulnerable to exploitation, teenage pregnancy and
sexually transmitted diseases, she said.
"I
think the intentions of the mayor are great but what we don't agree with is
giving bursaries for virginity," said chairman for the Commission for
Gender Equality Mfanozelwe Shozi. "There is an issue around discrimination
on the basis of pregnancy, virginity and even against boys. This is going too
far."
Virginity
testing is not against South Africa's constitution but it is essential that it
is done with consent, said Shozi.
Some
activists have called for the banning of virginity testing in South Africa,
describing it as sexist and invasive. Those defending the cultural practice say
it preserves tradition and has been modernized to teach girls about their
reproductive health and HIV and AIDS.
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