According to a survey by Lands' End and the National Association of Elementary School Principles, about half of the public schools in the country have a dress code for students to follow or require the use of uniforms. I will begin by expressing the fact that I am a fan of dress codes and believe they should be enforced in all public schools equality and in moderation. Students should follow a dress code and it should be equally imposed upon both sexes.
Although dress codes were originally designed to emphasize academics and promote a more serious school atmosphere, they tend to be more biased against girls. Dress codes are increasingly becoming more and more of an excuse to disproportionately target and sexualize one sex more than the other; they are a form of injustice and discrimination against females in today's society. The dress code policies are disproportionally being enforced and seem to only be targeting females being that regulations are more restrictive for female students than they are for males. If female students wear clothing considered to be revealing, they can expect a humiliating consequence like being asked to change.
Dress codes restrict females from wearing articles of clothing that are too revealing. By "revealing", dress codes mean to restrict females from wearing clothing that is flattering/form fitting and that might expose shoulders, collarbones or knees because apparently it reveals "too much skin" and is "distracting" to students and faculty of the opposite sex. Seriously, wearing a tank top or a pair of shorts that doesn't cover down to your knees is considered to show "too much"? Why give into rape culture and sexualize female students in that manner? Males have shoulders and legs too, it isn't anything they haven't already seen nor a body part that should be sexualized just because it is lightly exposed on the female body. Such unfair treatment is humiliating for female students because it fuels the stereotype that the clothing females chose to wear reflects their self-respect.
Also, nowhere in the public school dress code have they ever particularly addressed a specific article of male clothing that was unacceptable or considered inappropriate to wear to school. Female students on the other hand do not have the same equal privileges as their male peers. Several schools across the nation have gone as far as banning specific pieces of female garments from their dress code, such as skinny jeans, leggings and yoga pants because they are considered to be "inappropriate" because they can be "distracting" for male students. But what message is this sending? Why should females conform the way they want to dress to accommodate males?
While having dress codes in public schools is beneficiary, it should not be gendered biased and only target females. Dress codes need to be equally imposed amongst both sexes in public schools.
