Beginning as the early 1970s, most schools started having dress codes for females and males. They thought it would make their school look well organized and brought together. Then, year after year the dress code started to discriminate girls and be sexist. Now, in the world we live in today, sexism is a big problem, especially coming from schools. This leads to females shaming their bodies and hating their style because they are forced to hide their true colors. Not only is it unfair that girls get dress coded more than boys, but it has led to bigger problems. The way schools dress codes are enforced have a big impact on how females are treated in school and that should change.
Although some people may believe female’s bodies are different than males and that’s why they are treated different, but they should still have the same amount of strictness in the dress code. After many researches, we have gathered that girls, till this day, still get treated way different than boys. Some jobs won’t accept women to work but will accept males. That’s a huge problem that we have today and its continuing to go on endlessly. Especially in school, an online survey voted 13% that their dress code mistreats their gender in an unfair way. And 22% voted that the dress code is preventing all types of females from expressing themselves how they would like to. Overall, the main problem we are discussing is the way most schools treat girls and how they are sexist towards them. In reality, girls should be able to express themselves by dressing how they want and not having to worry about their school discriminating them for the way they dress.
There are many solutions to this problem but the main one that will make the bigger difference is if schools stopped worrying about how females dress and focused on other things. Jessica Valenti agrees that female students are being used as a target and that they shouldn’t be. She also suggests that all students should be treated fairly, and no one should feel like they are being used as a troubling target. However, many people might disagree and think that schools should be harder on girls because they are different than boys and the way they try to express themselves by dressing a certain way can be taken as a wrong message. But that’s not the case. All students are the same and should be treated as that. There is nothing wrong with female students trying to be themselves and dressing the way they prefer.
However, there are many articles and discussion posts about this topic. There are many opinions and points of view being shared which shows that this is a big problem. Many parents are concerned and angry at their schools because of the way they treat their kids. They state that, “That’s crazy that they’re caring more about two more inches of a girl’s thigh being shown than them being in class,” says Huffman. This just shows how unnecessary sexism towards female students is and its leading to problems way bigger than anyone has ever expected. It has led to parents getting angry with the school and making many complaints that can ruin the school’s reputation. And it also makes the school look bad as if they are mistreating their female students.
Many articles have proof and support that schools are starting to discriminate girls for the way they dress, and it needs to change. An article by “The Nation” called, “Girls speak out against sexist school dress code” (2014). States that, “Disciplining young women for dress code violations has repercussions far more troubling than embarrassment or missing educational time.” This discusses and explains that dress coding female students and making them miss class time and important educational time is unnecessary and it is embarrassing for the students. It also states, “Young women’s bodies may play a large part in their self-definition.” This evidence supports that girls should not be used nor treated as sexual objects and it is unfair that female students get treated poorly and not the same as male students. They are disciplining them for dressing a certain way and “distracting” other students and even some young male teachers. Although it is not the girl’s fault that they are being used as sexual objects they still get treated as if they are. Now, female’s students are getting madder and madder and they want to fight back.
Overall, this whole situation is very unnecessary, and it really need to stop. Many students and even parents are trying to make a change that’ll help mostly everyone. The school’s dress code is using female students as troubling targets because they believe that girls should dress more properly that boys and hide their true colors because it can sometimes be taken as a wrong message. Many people may disagree, and many people may agree. But there are more people that agree and want to make a change for all students to be treated fairly and not to be used as a target by any school. The way the school dress code is enforced has a big impact on how female students are treated in school and that should change. To summarize, sexism towards girls in school is causing bigger problems than anyone has expected, and it needs to stop before it’s too late to fix anything.
Reference
- Jones, S. (2018, August 31). Do School Dress Codes Discriminate Against Girls? Education Week. Retrieved from https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2018/09/05/do-school-dress-codes-discrimate-against-girls.html
- D’anastasio, C. (2014, August 27). Girls speak out against sexist school dress code. The Nation . Retrieved from https://www.thenation.com/article/girls-speak-out-against-sexist-school-dress-codes/
- Valenti, J. (n.d. September 7). Schools tighten grip on restrictive dress code and students are fed up. The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/education/2015/sep/07/restrictive-school-dress-codes-student-outrage
- ZHOU, L. (2015, Oct 20). The Sexism of School Dress Codes. Education. Retrieved from https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2015/10/school-dress-codes-are-problematic/410962/
