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ANC Women’s League (ANCWL) president Bathabile Dlamini has come out firing on all cylinders, slamming forced virginity testing and other cultural practices as harmful and “steeped in patriarchal practices that serve to oppress women”.
In a written statement entitled “Violating the rights of women and girls will not stop HIV and Aids: The folly of forced virginity testing” – the minister of social development said she is strongly against cultural practices which are demeaning to women.
She called for a review of a number of these
practices including “ukuthwala, virginity testing, widow’s rituals, ukungena
(marrying a widow to her late husband’s brother), breast sweeping/ironing, and
practices such as ‘cleansing’ after male circumcision, male circumcision itself,
witch hunting and other practices that may be discriminatory and harmful”.
The statement comes after the announcement of the Maiden’s Bursary from uThukela District Municipality in KwaZulu-Natal which requires recipients to go for regular virginity testing.
“Constitutional protection for cultural rights does not, however, provide a licence for the continuation of practices of any kind that may seek to continue discrimination and violence against women and girls,” Dlamini writes.
“The arguments offered by those who seek to defend the practice of virginity testing is that it is a strategy to reduce HIV and AIDS and teenage pregnancy. These arguments are at best misguided and inadvertently provide a convenient screen for a patently harmful practice steeped in patriarchal practices that serve to oppress women.”
The ANCWL has repeatedly come under fire for failing to speak out consistently on issues of women’s rights violations, opting instead to defend President Jacob Zuma. But this move will put Dlamini in good stead given that it appears to be the most serious stance taken on an issue which has been furiously debated for some time now.
“I have used the term forced virginity testing, as there is provision for women over the age of 18 to have the tests done with their consent,” she said.
“This is a grey area that requires debate and discussion. Is it consent or coercion when women and girls can only access bursaries based on them doing virginity tests and passing those tests?
It is not inconceivable that a number of these women and girls may in fact be engaging in the risky ‘virginity saving’ practices discussed above.
I wonder if the practice done in
this regard by the uThukela District Municipality is legal given the legal
provisions cited above.
“Legalities aside, if we are committed to dismantling patriarchy in all its forms, and the discrimination and violence that accompanies it, we must be committed to stopping all harmful practices against women and girls.”
