In Gujarat, Female Trainees Were Asked To Strip To Check If They Were Pregnant. Why Does No One Care About Our Dignity?
Quite recently, in a moment of being too optimistic and hopeful with the guy I have recently started dating, we were discussing how if we ever end up together and have a daughter, India would be the last place we’d want to raise her in. At the cost of sounding anti-nationalist here, which I assure I am not, I say this because with the kind of hate and gender-based crimes that have been taking place in the country, there is no woman who is truly safe. And we say this after we hear about yet another incident that took place in Gujarat which right now is the hot bed of all things stupid. Here, female trainees of Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) were made to strip naked for an alleged “physical test” by the authorities.
The incident took place in the Surat Municipal Institute of Medical Education and Research (SMIMER) hospital, run by the SMC on 20th February. In what is just stupid, female workers were made to stand naked in the gynaecology ward of the hospital to be checked for pregnancy.
Also Read : In Gujarat, This Swami Said Women Will Be Born As Female Dogs If They Cook While On Their Period. Oh, FFS!
An incident that was later reported to the commissioner by the SMC employees union, alleges that not just the married women, but even the unmarried female workers were forced to strip and stand naked to be checked for pregnancy. As the per the rules, all trainee employees are required to be checked under physical and medical tests to prove physical fitness, according to which, being put through a test wasn’t against the regulations.
But it was the way it was conducted that stirred all the trouble. Being made to stand in a group and strip in front of fellow workers was neither called for, nor ethical. The union mentioned in its complaint that, “Instead of calling the women one after another in the room for the test, lady doctors made them stand naked in group of 10. This act of compelling them to stand naked with others is highly deplorable. This method is illegal and against humanity. It is necessary that each woman is checked separately,” and demanding that much is not just basic, it is legal cannot be withheld.
The general secretary of the union, Ahmed Shaikh also went ahead and spoke on the matter saying, “Doctors should stop asking private questions about pregnancy. Moreover, even unmarried women in that group were subjected to a physical test meant for checking if they were pregnant or not. They were put in an embarrassing situation in front of other women. Women’s respect must be maintained during medical tests.” We couldn’t agree more.
It is about time that women are lent the same respect and dignity as the men of the society and are not exploited at every turn of the road. In fact, this having come only days after a group of women were asked to strip naked to be checked if they were menstruating in Gujarat itself.
The case that is currently being looked into by the Surat Mayor Jagdish Patel, also had him issuing a statement where he assured, “This issue is very serious. Such physical tests are conducted on all those employees who are getting permanent after finishing their training period. We will take strict action against the culprits if the allegations levelled by the women staffers are found to be true.”
