Ugandan Virgins Offered Free University Educations.
Wow.
In a misguided attempt to halt the spread of AIDS in Uganda, the government has come up with a plan to educate young female virgins free of charge.
The legislator who hatched this idea hopes that young women will "resist defilement", and be "morally upright", and as a reward, those who are proven to be virgins during a gynecological exam will receive educations paid for by donors.
Where to begin?
The patriarchal rulers of Uganda refuse to see the true causes of the devastation in their country. Poverty, lack of education, systemic abuse of women and female children.
In Uganda, a country with 35% of its citizens living well below the poverty line, an average life span of 51 years, each woman producing an average 6.74 children, and diseases: bacterial diarrhea, hepatitis A, typhoid fever, malaria, African trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness) and schistosomiasis killing thousands yearly, money needs to be spent on the basics....clean water, nutritious food, education, appropriate housing, medical services.
The Catholic Church has a stranglehold on the country, and AIDS, a preventable disease, will remain prevalent in any culture that encourages unprotected sexual activity. It is estimated that a million people are living with AIDS in Uganda. Many of those people are children born to mothers with AIDS.
Targeting young women who are seen as property by their fathers and brothers is not the answer. It matters not how "morally upright" a girl child is when a society views sexual abuse and rape as normal activity. Young Ugandan women face an uphill battle from birth. If they are not destroyed by their own families as children, as adults they become the property of husbands and later sons. Only the strongest of the strong survive in Uganda.
When Ugandan government cleans up the stunning civil rights abuses of its female citizens, educates all its citizens regarding basic health and safe sexual practices, and provides a minimum standard of living for all Ugandans, the scourge of AIDS will start to abate. In order to do that the government leaders need to separate church and state.
If there is a God, I hope she has mercy on the women of Uganda.
In a misguided attempt to halt the spread of AIDS in Uganda, the government has come up with a plan to educate young female virgins free of charge.
The legislator who hatched this idea hopes that young women will "resist defilement", and be "morally upright", and as a reward, those who are proven to be virgins during a gynecological exam will receive educations paid for by donors.
Where to begin?
The patriarchal rulers of Uganda refuse to see the true causes of the devastation in their country. Poverty, lack of education, systemic abuse of women and female children.
In Uganda, a country with 35% of its citizens living well below the poverty line, an average life span of 51 years, each woman producing an average 6.74 children, and diseases: bacterial diarrhea, hepatitis A, typhoid fever, malaria, African trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness) and schistosomiasis killing thousands yearly, money needs to be spent on the basics....clean water, nutritious food, education, appropriate housing, medical services.
The Catholic Church has a stranglehold on the country, and AIDS, a preventable disease, will remain prevalent in any culture that encourages unprotected sexual activity. It is estimated that a million people are living with AIDS in Uganda. Many of those people are children born to mothers with AIDS.
Targeting young women who are seen as property by their fathers and brothers is not the answer. It matters not how "morally upright" a girl child is when a society views sexual abuse and rape as normal activity. Young Ugandan women face an uphill battle from birth. If they are not destroyed by their own families as children, as adults they become the property of husbands and later sons. Only the strongest of the strong survive in Uganda.
When Ugandan government cleans up the stunning civil rights abuses of its female citizens, educates all its citizens regarding basic health and safe sexual practices, and provides a minimum standard of living for all Ugandans, the scourge of AIDS will start to abate. In order to do that the government leaders need to separate church and state.
If there is a God, I hope she has mercy on the women of Uganda.
posted by Alphamutt at 10:12 AM
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