（澳洲生活訊）

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.

南非一城市為16位年輕的女大學生頒發了「處女獎學金」。市長發言人表示，此舉旨在鼓勵女生「潔身自愛、專註學習」。

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.

市長發言人亞布拉尼·姆卡恩納稱，「處女獎學金」於今年設立，已有來自誇祖魯-納塔爾省東部烏塔卡拉行政區的年輕女性獲得此獎。他表示，市政府每年都會嘉獎100多位有發展前途的當地高中生及大學生。

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.

杜度·馬茲布庫是烏塔卡拉行政區萊迪史密斯市的市長。她在南非702電台的談話節目中稱，申請該獎學金的女性必須甘當處子，且需同意定期接受處女檢測，一旦查出非處，則立刻取消獎學金。

“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.

「感謝迄今為止仍保持處女身的女性，希望你們可以選擇再潔身自愛三年，直至拿到學歷或畢業證書為止，」馬茲布庫如是說。

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.

她表示：「只要獲獎者能提供處女證明」，就能一直獲得獎學金。她補充道，「處女獎學金」選擇年輕女性為嘉獎對象，是因為她們更易受人蠱惑，容易出現不小心懷孕或染上性病等問題。

South Africa’s department of basic education recorded about 20,000 pregnancies among girls and young women in schools in 2014, with 223 pregnant girls still in primary school, according to the South African Broadcasting Corporation. A household survey conducted by Statistics South Africa found that 5.6 percent of South African females aged 14 to 19 were pregnant in 2013.

據南非廣播公司報道，根據南非基礎教育部門的數據，2014年，所有在校女生中，約有兩萬人懷孕，其中包括223名小學生孕婦。南非統計局的一項家庭調查顯示，2013年，在南非14至19歲的女性中，懷孕人數佔5.6%。

“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.”

性別平等協會主席馬諾澤薇·肖茲表示：「我覺得市長的本意固然是好的，但我們反對以處女為噱頭評選獎學金。以是否懷孕、是否童貞，甚至是否遠離男孩為評選標準，是對女性的歧視。已經遠遠背離了初衷。」

Virginity testing is not against South Africa’s constitution but it is essential that it is done with consent, said Shozi.

肖茲稱，處女測試雖不違背南非憲法，但務必要先徵得當事人同意。

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.

一些社會活動家已呼籲南非政府禁止處女測試，他們認為這是對女性的歧視和侮辱。而支持者則稱，處女測試既利於保留文化傳統，又能與時俱進地教給女孩們有關生殖健康以及艾滋病方面的知識。