Egyptian women blast MP calling for mandatory virginity tests

An Egyptian female advocacy group have attacked comments made by parliamentarian Elhamy Agina who called for virginity tests to be made mandatory to women applying for university.

Head of the National Council for Women, Maya Morsi, demanded the expulsion of Agina from parliament and called for a criminal investigation into his comments, Al-Masry Al-Youm reported.

Agina made the comments last week stating that girls hoping to receive a university education must undergo regular virginity tests in a bid to curb informal urfi marriages on campus. Urfi marriages have become popular due to their expense-free contracts that suit unemployed youth.

“She also must submit a document that she is still a virgin in order to be officially admitted to the university,” Agina explained in an interview. The parents of girls who fail the exam would be notified. “No one should be angry about this. If you’re angry that means you’re scared that your daughter is married behind your back,” he said.

This is not the first time Agina has caused controversy for his comments; last month he called for women to undergo female genital mutilation as a way to curb male “sexual weakness”.