A new scholarship program in South Africa's Uthukela municipality, in the eastern KwaZulu-Natal province, awarded college funds to 16 girls last month for remaining virgins.
The girls will have to submit to "virginity inspections" twice a year to hold on to their scholarships.
Activists and officials in South Africa have slammed the program as regressive and misogynistic, and the Commission on Gender Equality is leading an investigation to shut it down.
"The program is sexist, it discriminates and it's against the founding provisions of our constitution," Javu Baloyi of CGE told The Huffington Post. "It puts girls at risk of being abused or alienating them due to their status."
The scholarship has been dubbed the "maiden bursary," and has been staunchly defended by Uthukela Mayor Dudu Maziboko. She says the scholarship will help girls to keep themselves "pure" and focus on their studies, and went on South African radio to say that she would consider girls who have been raped for the scholarships.
Isaac Mangena of the South African Human Rights Commission told HuffPost that the group received several complaints about the controversial scholarship, concerning girls' rights and women's equality.
The country's Democratic Alliance party filed a complaint that the "invasive practice strips young women of their dignity, freedom of privacy and choice, and instills in them a fear of being ostracized and embarrassed for their personal choices, or unfortunate circumstances such as rape."
CGE is currently in talks with Mayor Maziboko and is in the middle of an investigating the constitutionality of the program. Baloyi could not comment further, since the investigation is already underway.
Virginity testing involves the examination of a girl’s vagina and hymen to determine whether the girl has had intercourse. Not all virgins have intact hymens, so the test is inaccurate at best, and of course, boys cannot be tested for virginity.
Maziboko claims that virginity testing has been part of Zulu culture for decades so it's acceptable to include it in the scholarship program. Testing became particularly prominent in the 1990s when King Goodwill Zwelithini launched the tradition of a "reed dance" performed by virgins, to promote abstinence during the HIV/AIDS epidemic. But the tests have done little to cut rates of HIV infection and teenage pregnancy. South Africa currently has 6.3 million people who are HIV positive -- the most in the world -- and the KwaZulu-Natal district has the highest HIV prevalence in the country.
A South African activist, Jennifer Thorpe, argued in the Mail & Guardian that discouraging women from sex would do little to fight HIV, and would stifle important conversations around safe sex, consent and treatment.
"What is needed is dialogue, information and the provision of free contraception. This would be a more strategic line of policy for the municipality to pursue," she wrote.
Sketches Of HIV In The Central African Republic
Marie(01 of05)
Open Image ModalMarie was one of the first patients I met. While in Mboki, a community about 78 miles away from Zemio, one of our HIV nurses and I went looking for her specifically because he was worried. And with good reason -- this young lady in her mid-20s couldn’t have weighed more than 90 pounds. Her cheekbones, ribs and elbows looked ready to pierce through her taut, dusky skin.
We took her back to Zemio and she stayed with us off and on for several months. Her relatives in Zemio refused to accept her in their home because she was HIV-positive and not a close enough relative, so she stayed with us instead. She was always accompanied by her bright, energetic daughter, who was always ready to lend her mom a helping hand. (credit:Diana Johnson)
Nadia(02 of05)
Open Image ModalNadia -- a bright, energetic, squirmy, quirky, clingy ball of joy! She was HIV-positive and had lost both her parents, presumably to the same disease. Her grandma did her best to take care of her, but since they lived several towns away from Zemio, in Kitessa, it was difficult for them to come fill their medications. Many of the country's roads are out of shape, prone to flooding and destruction by militant groups like the Lord's Resistance Army.
I first met her in the hospital. She was 4 years old, runny-nosed and shyly hiding behind her grandma. The shyness didn’t last long. One of the program's doctors and I had to do hospital rounds while passing Nadia back and forth between us, as she would cling to us, making little sounds and greeting the patients.
Children are often the most vulnerable in HIV care, as they have to rely on someone else to give them their medications, which are complicated as they change dosage as they grow up. Nadia has a lot of life left to live -- hopefully she can be there for all of it. (credit:Diana Johnson)
Christine(03 of05)
Open Image ModalChristine was a gentle older woman who came from around 60 miles away with chronic diarrhea that left her thin and emaciated. MSF's HIV team started her on counseling, initiated treatment for her diarrhea and then antiretroviral treatment for her HIV.
Every time I saw Christine, she was a little stronger and started developing a healthy glow. She went from being bed-bound to a healthy working woman. (credit:Diana Johnson)
Jean de Dieu(04 of05)
Open Image ModalTeenage years can be a rough time of emotional transition and HIV can complicate this process further. I first met 15-year-old Jean de Dieu when he approached me, explaining that his parents were dead, and that he had no place to live and no one to pay for his education. I later met his aunt and uncle, who said Jean refused to go school despite their paying. He also didn't get along with his cousins. He was a difficult character to read, would often avoid eye contact, and shared stories that conflicted with his family members' reports.
But Jean and I developed quite a bond. On mornings that I would go running on the airstrip, I’d often find Jean de Dieu jogging along beside me in his plastic green shoes. He’d tell me about wanting to go to school in Sudan or stories about his family, or he’d just quietly fall into step beside me. On my last day in Zemio, Jean de Dieu was at the airstrip with a plastic bracelet to give me, with tears in his eyes. (credit:Diana Johnson)
Untitled(05 of05)
Open Image ModalThis drawing is not of a particular patient but one that represents the general success of our program. When HIV-positive women take their antiretrovirals correctly, they can negate the possibility of passing HIV on to their children during pregnancy, birth or breastfeeding. I’m happy to say that over 95 percent of the babies born to HIV-positive moms in our program were HIV-negative. (credit:Diana Johnson)