Is It Ethical To Enforce Dress Codes?

The “dress code debate,” wherein school officials, students, and parents are trying to reach a consensus regarding the appropriateness of dress codes in public schools, received infamous media attention through a violent tragedy. On April 20, 1999, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold opened fire on their school in Littleton, Colo., killing 12 students and one teacher before turning their guns on themselves. After this tragedy, people looked for answers and soon were drawn to the behaviors of Harris and Klebold, including their clothing, which consisted of trench coats with pockets deep enough for weaponry. Since then, in order to prevent concealed weaponry and gang-related violence, dress codes have been implemented across numerous American schools.

However, these codes have failed the very intrinsic nature of their creed. It is unethical for an educational system to justify marginalizing a specific gender by claiming to curb violence. School dress codes, created with the intention of providing a safe learning environment for all, instead have been expanded in a way that unfairly and humiliatingly targets female students.

The debate over the implementation of dress codes in American schools is not as black and white of an issue as it may initially seem. The conversation includes what messages we are sending to children, whose education is prioritized, and whose responsibility it is to uphold “propriety” in our educational systems. Schools typically justify their dress codes by maintaining that it’s important to keep the classroom free from distractions; however, that language actually reinforces the idea that women’s bodies are inherently tempting to men and it’s their responsibility to cover themselves up. What sort of values does that instill into young people that school administrators are claiming that female students are inherent distractions?

When the school board is telling a girl that she has to dress a way so she won’t be distracting, that’s telling a girl that she needs to change herself, to make sure she’s not distracting. The subliminal messages that schools send when they single out a young girl for what she is wearing is a sad precedent for what women will have to deal with for the rest of their lives: a society where men are valued more than women.

In order to be deemed a “respectable” member of society, a woman is expected to look presentable at all times. Whether it be at school, job interviews, or any sort of professional setting, the clothes that women wear are emphasized unquestionably more than the clothes that men wear. Michelle Obama, who pioneered various government-backed programs to curb childhood obesity in America, is rarely applauded for her intellect or political savvy. Instead, mainstream media would rather comment on what designer dress she is wearing at various White House galas or social soirees. Magazines and tabloids would rather report on “how toned her arms are” than report on her academic achievements independent of her husband. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2012 women on average made 81% of the median earnings of male full-time workers. More than 50 years after John F. Kennedy signed into law the Equal Pay Act, which was supposed to eliminate wage disparity between the sexes, women still remain at a heightened disadvantage in pay, promotion prospects, and work-life balance.

What better way to change this societal bias than by beginning within our schools? An important value we can pass to young children is that it is narrow-minded and hurtful to judge others on the basis of appearance or initial predisposition. Singling out a middle school-aged girl for wearing a tank top and labeling her someone of “low-character” continues the national crisis of rape culture and victim-blaming that is rampant throughout college campuses, city streets, and workplaces around the country. If school administrators perpetuate these double standards through chauvinistic and belittling dress codes, then the systematic sexism will never end.