View the Can Dress Codes Harm Students PowerTopic

Acknowledgement

Special thanks to Sabrina Bernadel, who worked on this presentation while at the National Women’s Law Center.

What’s Ahead

• School dress codes are a common part of most students’ learning experiences, but do they keep students safe? In this presentation you’ll learn about:
  • The harms of school dress codes, particularly through sexism and racism
  • How dress codes impact students

• Definitions
• Why do schools have dress codes?
• Problems with dress codes
• How are sexist dress codes written?
• What are sexist dress codes? How are they enforced?
• Subjective language
• Who’s impacted by sexist and racist dress codes?
• Black girls and intersectionality
• How dress codes harm students

Definitions

Bias: To be prejudiced in favor of or against one thing, person, or group compared with another.

Discrimination: The unfair or prejudicial treatment of people and groups based on characteristics such as race, gender, age, or sexual orientation.

Exclusionary discipline: When schools punish students by removing them from their regular classroom; the most familiar types are suspensions and expulsions.

Gender binary: The idea that gender can only be categorized as either male or female.

Intersectionality: Refers to intersecting identities that inform an individual’s experiences. The term was created by Kimberlé Crenshaw in 1989.

Racist: Treating someone differently in a worse way because of their race, color, or national origin.

Sexist: Treating someone differently in a worse way because of sex-related characteristics.

Sexualize: To make something sexual that wasn’t or to see it in a sexual way.

Subjective language: Language that is open to interpretation.

What Are School Dress Codes?

• Rules that tell students what they can and can’t wear at school
• Dress codes can apply to clothing worn:
  • In the school building
  • At extracurricular clubs and activities
  • At school-sponsored events, even off-campus

Grooming policies usually cover hygiene, hair, makeup, jewelry, tattoos, or body art.

• Dress codes may be part of a school’s code of conduct or a separate document
• Violations often result in school discipline
• Students often say they were “dress coded” when disciplined

Why Do Schools Have Dress Codes?

• Schools say dress codes are needed to:
  • Keep schools safe
  • Minimize distractions
  • Hide financial differences

Talk About It

What other reasons have you heard for why schools have dress codes?

What kinds of problems do they cause?

Problems with Dress Codes

• They often fail to meet their goals and push students out of class
• They are frequently written and enforced in sexist and racist ways
• They violate civil rights laws:
  • Title IX — prohibits sex discrimination
  • Title VI — prohibits race-based discrimination

Discrimination means being treated differently in a worse way because of identity.

How Are Sexist Dress Codes Written?

• Sexist language may:
  • Specify what boys vs. girls should wear
  • Ignore trans and nonbinary students
  • Describe girls’ clothing as “distracting”
• This reinforces sex stereotypes:
  • Forcing gender binary dress
  • Promoting narrow ideas of femininity and masculinity

Who Is Impacted by Sexist Dress Codes?

• Girls, especially girls of color
• LGBTQI+ students
• Students with curvier or more developed bodies

Examples of Sexist Dress Codes

• “Boys may not wear skirts or dresses.”
• “Hair length for boys shall not exceed 1 inch past the ears.”
• Sex-based rules harm trans and nonbinary students by:
  • Targeting them for discipline
  • Causing emotional harm
  • Encouraging bullying

Resources

• Dress Coded (NWLC)
• Dress Coded II (NWLC)
• Dignity Denied (NWLC)
• ACLU: Dress Codes