RIGA - Getting a driver's license usually requires a battery of tests.

Most wanna-be drivers wouldn't be surprised by an eye exam designed to find out if you need glasses to read signs, a written test to make sure you know the rules of the road, and the feared driving test itself.

But women in Lithuania have one added test to pass - a gynecological exam.

A 20-year-old law on the books in Vilnius requires that all women undergo a physical to make sure they aren't suffering from any "female" illnesses.

"Doctors say that many women may be ill," said Ausra Burneikiene, a gender-issues ombudswoman with the ombudsman's office in Vilnius. "But one gynecologist said it was easier for women who were ill to drive than it was to stand on public transportation."

Men, however, are not required to undergo a urological exam to prove their driving ability, prompting a raft of complaints over the past two years and an eventual investigation.

At first the ombudsman's office, which was created four years ago, only received phone-in complaints about the procedure to procure a license, Burneikiene said, but no formally filed comments that could launch an investigation.

"Most called and asked questions about the law," she added. "It was difficult to pick out why the law was discriminatory."

But complaints about the examination process began to pile up, with 90 filed in 2001 alone.

What the ombudsman's office finally latched on to was that if a male doctor didn't like the exam results or if a woman was ill with any gynecological disease she could be prevented from driving - clear discrimination.

The investigation by the ombudsman's office brought the issue out of the gynecologist's stirrups and into the Parliament, where the law looks to be on its way out.

"It is a very old law, and the case was discussed in Parliament," said Gabriele Apanaviciene, spokeswoman for the Health Ministry.

And the ombudsman's office received a letter from the Health Ministry Jan. 15 saying the regulations are set to be changed, Burneikiene said.

"That the state doctors want to care for our people is good," she said, laughing. "But most doctors said there were no driving-related problems with these illnesses."

