Young women refuse to wear chastity scarf - World - Brief Article

National Catholic Reporter, Jan 11, 2002 by Gill Donovan

SWAZILAND: Young women in cities here are largely ignoring an order by their king to don a symbolic chastity scarf as part of a ban on sexual relations, said local church leaders.

The traditional chastity rite of "umchwasho," imposed by King Mswati III Sept. 9, "may be observed in rural areas where traditions are strong, but girls around town haven't been wearing the scarves," said Servite Sr. Philipina Mumba.

Mumba serves on an AIDS committee in Swaziland linked to the Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference, which includes bishops of Swaziland, Botswana and South Africa.

"Young women here say it takes away their rights," Mumba said in a telephone interview from Manzini, Swaziland's manufacturing hub.

Banning young women from having sex is a longstanding Swazi tradition enforced intermittently. The king decides when to issue the order.

Describing teenage girls as "flowers that should be protected," King Mswati said the umchwasho was necessary to combat the alarming HIV-infection rate in the tiny mountain kingdom.

Under the tradition all unmarried girls under the age of 18 must wear the multicolored, woven scarves signaling they are not to be touched by men.

Unmarried women over the age of 18 are to wear red and black scarves, which allow limited sexual contact but not intercourse.

According to U.N. statistics, about 25 percent of adults in Swaziland are infected with HIV.

If a boy violates umchwasho, the girl and others in the village march to his house and throw-their scarves at it. The boy's family then is forced to pay his chief a fine of one cow or about $130.