Female aspiring police officers in Indonesia are being forced to undergo ‘virgin tests’, a human rights organisation reports. Following a recruitment drive earlier this year, 7,000 women are currently undergoing training in Indonesia, after fulfilling a number of criteria. In order to become a policewoman, a candidate must be aged 17.5-22 years, follow a religion, be at least 5ft5in, not need glasses and: be a virgin!!!
‘In addition to the medical and physical tests, women who want to be policewomen must also undergo virginity tests, so all women who want to become policewomen should keep their virginity,’ the Indonesian police states on its website.
However, according to a report by Human Rights Watch, a number of applicants were only told of the test moments before it was about to take place.
‘I felt embarrassed, nervous, but I couldn’t refuse, ‘ a 2013 applicant told the HRW according to GlobalPost. ‘If I had refused, I couldn’t have become a policewoman.’
According to another female applicant, the tests have seen the aspiring police officers undress in front of 20 other candidates before being led into a room without a door, in pairs. There, in the company of the other applicants, the women were subjected to internal examinations to determine if they were virgins.
‘The Indonesian National Police’s use of virginity tests is a discriminatory practice that harms and humiliates women. Applicants who failed the test were not necessarily expelled from the force, but women described the test as painful and traumatic.’ said Nisha Varia, associate women’s rights director at HRW. ‘
The practice, which is supposed to determine if the candidate’s hymen is intact, has been widely discredited as unscientific and degrading. A spokesman for the national police confirmed virginity tests still happened but that there was no requirement for female candidates to be virgins.
‘There is a complete health test for both female and male candidates including checking reproductive organs and the virginity test for women will be a part of that routine,’ said Ronny Sompie. But there has never has been a rule that requires policewomen to be virgins, so there is no discrimination.’
One candidate, who had undergone the test and asked to remain anonymous, said she agreed with it in principle.
‘I don’t have a problem with the test…but the way in which it was conducted, with many people in one room, violated our privacy,’ she said.
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