JOHANNESBURG (AP) — 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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