by Staff writer
An official document called a “marriage declaration form” issued by a medical services institute in India to its employees has been criticized for asking its women employees about their “virginity”.
One of the people who has voiced their discontent about the issue is outspoken Indian journalist Maitreyee Boruah.
“The hypocrisy surrounding women’s sexual life and curiosity to know about their celibacy reek of patriarchy where only women are put in the dock when it comes to morality,” Boruah said in an article for One India.
In the form, which Boruah described as “bizarre”, Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (IGIMS) asked its female employees to declare their virginity.
The document which is currently doing the rounds of social media also asked women employees of the institute whether or not their husbands have other living spouses besides them.
After a few media houses reported about the controversial form on Wednesday, the institute in its defence said that the question on virginity actually meant to know whether an employee was married or unmarried.
Speaking to India Today, Manish Mandal, deputy medical superintendent of the IGIMS, said, “Essentially what is being asked in the form is whether a person is married or unmarried. Personally, I feel the word used should have been unmarried instead of virgin. That would have been sober but what is there in the rules have to be followed.”
In her article Boruah also criticized the culture of associating virginity with marriage.
“People are being trained to think that being virgin is equal to being unmarried,” Boruah says.
“What if the likes of Mandal are being told in strong terms that the marital status of women has got nothing to do with their virginity?”
“In their desire to be surrounded by virgin women, the moral brigade wants to control the body, mind and soul of a woman.
“So, if a woman decided to have sex before marriage, our sanskari society calls her a “slut” or a “bitch”. But no such derogatory terms are being used for men who led a promiscuous life.”
