Rights Group Condemns South Africa's Scholarship Awards To Virgin Girls!

The Women’s Rights Group People Opposing Women Abuse (POWA) have criticized the recent scholarship awarded to 16 young women who voluntarily pledged to remain virgins thereby encourage students to be “pure and focus on school.” POWA argued that “Virginity testing will never stop the spread of HIV and AIDS,” adding that testing girls to see if they were virgins violates “the rights and dignity” of the girls.

South Africa Broadcasting Corporation reported that South Africa’s Department of Basic Education recorded 20,000 pregnancies among girls and young women in schools during 2014, with 223 occurring at primary schools.

With 5.6 million people, which represents about 17 percent of the population living with the disease, the country is the site of the world’s largest HIV epidemic, 

Mfanozelwe Shozi, the chairman of South Africa’s Commission for Gender Equality, told AP that she appreciated the mayor’s intentions but that “there is an issue around discrimination on the basis of pregnancy, virginity and even against boys.”