Take A 'Virginity Test' First If You Want To Become A Policewoman In Indonesia
Female recruits hoping to join Indonesia's police force are forced to undress in front of others to perform a rather humiliating virginity test where fingers are inserted inside their vagina.
By Sadho Ram — 19 Nov 2014, 07:59 AM — Updated over 9 years ago
Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim country, is in the midst of an unprecedented mass recruitment drive to recruit more female police officers to bulk up the 3% of the police force that women currently make up. But those female recruits are forced to undergo a traumatising and archaic two-finger virginity tests.
Indonesian army and police during the rehearsal for the ceremony to greet Joko Widodo as the country's new leader at the presidential palace in Jakarta on 19 October 2014
Image via wordpress.comIndonesia wants more policewomen. Last April, the authorities launched a massive and unprecedented recruitment campaign, and 7,000 women are currently undergoing training. But becoming a policewoman in Indonesia is not easy. Requirements for female candidates include being 17.5 to 22 years old, not being or having been married, and having completed high school.
Other general requirements, head of the policewomen academy Sri Handayani explained to Indonesian magazine Tempo last year, include “fearing God” (meaning following one of the six officially recognized religions), not needing glasses, and being at least 165 centimeters tall (about 65 inches). What she failed to mention at the time is that female applicants are also expected to be virgins.
So female recruits hoping to join the force have to do more than just pass a written and athletic evaluation. They must also prove that they are virgins. For which, they are forced to undress in front of others while two fingers are 'inserted' to establish that fact.
Brigadier Eka Frestya (left), Police Brigadier Avvy Olivia (right), Superintendent Eny Regama (middle) at National Traffic Management (NTMC) office building, Cawang Jakarta
Image via tempo.coThe test is listed publicly as a requirement to enter the force and performed as part of the chief of police’s health inspection guidelines for new candidates, which requires women to complete an “obstetrics and gynaecology” exam.
theguardian.com
This "discriminatory and degrading" test, as Human Rights Watch (HRW) calls virginity tests in a report published 17 November, is actually clearly stated on Indonesia's national police website
A screenshot of the original website. The screenshot has been cut short by SAYS due to its length to highlight the virginity test section on the website
Image via infopendaftaranpolri.comWhile female recruits are also expected to be single and not marry until they have been in the force for a few years, Indonesia’s national police website claims they must also undergo virginity tests in addition to general medical and physical examinations, with the added warning: “So all women who want to become policewomen should keep their virginity.”
theguardian.com
A screenshot of the translated section mentioning about the virginity test from the website
Image via infopendaftaranpolri.comWhile the practice is in conflict with Indonesia's national police principles as well as international human rights policy, several of the aspiring female applicants interviewed by HRW said they found out about this sexist test just before it took place
One of the women, who applied in 2013, said she was “shocked” when she was told that the health tests included “checking our insides” and a virginity test. “I felt embarrassed, nervous, but I couldn't refuse,” she says, clearly distressed.
“If I had refused, I couldn't have become a policewoman.”
Another woman said the conditions in which the test was conducted were far from ideal. She had to fully undress in front of 20 other candidates, and the virginity test took place in a separate room that had no door, alongside a second applicant.
“Entering the virginity test examination room was really upsetting. I feared that after they performed the test I would not be a virgin anymore. They inserted two fingers. It really hurt. My friend even fainted because ... it really hurt,” she said.
While she understood the point of health checkups, she called virginity tests “unnecessary” and “irrelevant.”
“It was painful and humiliating,” she said.
While the female recruits who "failed" this test were not necessarily prevented from entering the country's police force, all of those interviewed by HRW said the examination was painful and traumatic and described the unethical practice as widespread
In a series of interviews with HRW, young women - including some who underwent the test as recently as this year - described the procedure as painful and traumatic. The women told how they were forced to strip naked before female medics gave them a "two-finger test" - a practice described by HRW as archaic and discredited.
thestar.com.my"I don't want to remember those bad experiences. It was humiliating," said one 19-year-woman who took the test in the city of Pekanbaru, on western Sumatra island, and whose identity was not disclosed.
"Why should we take off our clothes in front of strangers? It is not necessary. I think it should be stopped."
An Indonesian police spokesman, Maj Gen Ronny Sompie, said the test was no reason to "respond negatively" to the force's requirements to the tests, explaining that they are done to ensure the female applicants do not have sexually-transmitted diseases
In response to the HRW report, a spokesman of the Indonesian police told local media that “there are no virginity tests in the selection of policewomen.” But he added: “In the selection process, there are comprehensive medical tests for men. In medical tests for men and women, we also conduct examinations of reproductive organs, not virginity tests.”
time.com
At the police headquarters in Jakarta, the head of the health center, Rusdianto (who like many Indonesians only goes by one name) would rather not talk too much about virginity tests. “It’s not only a virginity test, it’s also a genital and urinary examination to check for diseases and infections,” he insists. He also says the virginity tests do not eliminate candidates.
Asked why virginity tests are needed, he stays vague. “All tests” conducted are meant to get “the best” applicants, he says.
While Indonesia, who is in the midst of a large push to recruit more female police officers, wants to increase the presence of women in its force, and 7,000 women are currently in training, virginity tests seem like a pretty good way to make sure women don't join up
