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PARIS/ UNITED NATIONS: The French government plans to introduce jail terms and fines for doctors who provide controversial so-called “virginity certificates” for traditional religious marriages.
It is part of draft legislation aimed at reinforcing French secular values and combating what President Emmanuel Macron calls “Islamist separatism” but the French abortion advice group ANCIC says stopping “virginity tests” requires broader educational work.
The United Nations (UN) says such tests must be stopped.
The French Interior Ministry says the bill – not yet fully debated by French politicians – proposes a year in jail and fine of €15,000 (£14,000) for any medical professional who issues a “virginity certificate”.
According to France 3 TV news, about 30% of French doctors say they have been asked for such certificates and most of them refuse.
The World Health Organization says the practice of inspecting the hymen visually or with fingers cannot prove whether a woman or girl has had vaginal intercourse or not. It also violates her human rights, the World Health Organization (WHO) says.
Gynaecologist Dr Ghada Hatem told France Inter news that “in France this doesn’t affect thousands of women – I am asked by about three women maximum [for certificates] each year”. Often it is girls from the Maghreb – Muslim-majority north-west Africa – who ask for them, she said.
She told France 3 TV that she provided such certificates for women and girls who feared physical violence from relatives or family dishonor.
“If they say ‘my brother will beat me up, my dad will strangle me, my in-laws will ruin my family’s reputation’ I have 
no reason to disbelieve them.”
“Virginity tests” have been documented in many countries by the UN, Human Rights Watch and other organizations. They are done not only on religious grounds, but sometimes in rape investigations or in recruitment to security forces.
A UN statement in October 2018urged governments to ban such tests, but also called for awareness campaigns to educate communities and “challenge myths related to virginity and harmful gender norms that place emphasis on control of women’s and girls’ sexuality and bodies”.
Marlène Schiappa, French Minister Delegate in charge of Citizenship, said the bill – to be presented to parliament in December – should also include punishment for those who demand “virginity tests”, such as parents or fiancés.
Muslim women can face rejection by their families and local community, and some have even been killed, for having 
had sex before marriage.
Many other traditional faith groups also require women and girls to be “pure” before marriage.
In a speech on Friday President Macron spoke out against radicalization in some French Muslim communities, saying a minority of France’s estimated six million Muslims were in danger of forming a “counter-society”.
Schiappa said the new law ought also to ban “certificates of convenience unrelated to a person’s health”, such as “a so-called certified chlorine allergy, generally used to keep girls away from sports activities and the swimming pool”.
ANCIC, a French association providing advice on contraception and abortion, said it supported the government’s stand against “virginity tests”, but warned that in some cases women were in real danger and “a ban would simply 
deny the existence of such community practices, without making them disappear”.
“We think this question must be tackled quite differently, so that women and men free themselves and reject the weight of these traditions,” ANCIC said.
“There needs to be educational provision, to inform, discuss, prevent and give support.”
Under existing French law, foreigners can be refused an extension of their residency permits if they are in polygamous marriages, but Ms Schiappa said the new law would also go further, enabling polygamists to be expelled from France.
Current protections against forced marriage would also be tightened, she said. The bill would enable a third party to 
alert a civil servant if there were suspicions that a marriage was going ahead without both partners’ consent.
The civil servant would then interview each partner and, if a forced marriage was still suspected, the matter could be passed on to prosecutors.
Meanwhile, in a speech on February 18, French President Emmanuel Macron, in his campaign against what he calls “Islamist separatism”, touched on the issue of “virginity certificates”.
“In the Republic, one cannot require certificates of virginity to get married”, he said.
Across the world, “virginity certificates” can be issued following a doctor’s confirmation that a patient’s hymen is intact, and is sometimes used as a prerequisite for marriage.
Some groups, according to their faith or culture, require that women and girls be “pure” before marriage, and seek such tests as “proof”.
The practice is banned in countries such as Bangladesh, but legal in others such as the United States.
The World Health Organization has affirmed that such “testing” is unscientific, violates human rights, and can have harmful consequences for those who undergo it.
French doctors and Muslim feminists are also against the practice, but some have argued against a ban, saying it could harm women, while others have suggested Macron and his administration are politicizing the issue.
On September 6, Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said in an interview with Le Parisien that Macron’s forthcoming separatism bill, expected to be put before Parliament next month, would address virginity certificates.
“Some doctors still dare to certify that a woman is a virgin to allow a religious marriage, despite the condemnation of these practices by the Council of the Order of Physicians. We will not only ban it formally, but propose penalization,” he said.
The next day, Minister Delegate Marlène Schiappa reiterated the plan during an interview with RTL, characterizing such tests as a “serious attack on citizenship and the dignity of women”.
The interior ministry last month said doctors who issue virginity certificates would face a penalty of one year in prison and a fine of 15,000 euros, according to a media report.
At the time of publishing, France’s Ministry of the Interior and Ministry of Health had not responded to reporters’ requests for comment.
There is little information available on the prevalence of the practice in France, but some doctors have said anecdotally that there is very little demand for such certifications.
A statement co-signed by doctors, administrators, and other advocates published in Libération last month condemned the practice as “barbaric, backward and totally sexist”, adding that it was “happily extremely rare and concerns a tiny number of patients.”
However, the signatories said issuing such certificates could be essential to those who could face violence without them.
“What should shock public opinion is not that the doctor writes such a certificate without any legal value, but that in 2020 the requirement of virginity is still so widespread,” the statement read.
French gynecologist Ghada Hatem told media that she is asked for such certificates at most three times a year, but suggested that such documents are needed by women who could very well suffer domestic violence without them but Israël Nisand, president of the National College of French Gynecologists and Obstetricians, supports a ban and claims to receive requests for virginity certificates once a month. He has said the foundation of the practice is “patriarchy”.
Meanwhile, ANCIC, a French abortion organization, said in September that Schiappa and Darmanin had the “wrong target by penalizing health professionals”.
Some feminist and anti-racist groups say the government is politicizing the issue.
In a statement to media, Muslim feminist organization Lallab condemned the practice as “sexist and humiliating” and suggested that it has a low prevalence in France but it added: “We do not understand why this completely peripheral issue is at the top of the French political agenda in the defence of women’s rights.”
Nta Rajel, a feminist collective of the North African diaspora, said: “Darmanin himself is the subject of investigations for rape, so the fate of women is not his concern.”
In June, a case against Darmanin dating back to 2018 was reopened when a Paris appeals court declared a previous investigation into allegations he raped a woman had been inadequate. He claims that their contact was consensual and has accused the alleged victim of slander.
Nta Rajel added: “It is obvious that we must fight against this type of practice but it is not by banning certificates that we will help anyone because until now, it is the presence of these certificates that has helped women who need them,” the statement read. “As usual, the issue of women has been exploited for racist ends.” (Int’l News Desk)
