Pushing for Professionalism
Spring is in the air, and as Exeter slowly transitions into warmer spring weather, the role of the school’s dress code is becoming increasingly apparent. More and more of my friends have been dress-coded for their warm-weather attire, causing some of them to question the validity of the Academy’s dress code as stated by the E Book. Along with the “Why so gendered?” campaign this year, the discussion among students about the outdated and “gendered” dress code has grown significantly.
Currently, the dress code is gender-specific: boys must wear shirts with a tie or a turtleneck, while girls have a much broader choice of clothing. While the E Book states that girls must wear “a dress, skirt or nice slacks with blouse, sweater, collared shirt or turtleneck,” it is evident on campus that the dress code for female students is far more relaxed than for their male counterparts. Students have long wondered why the dress code is unfair in this way. Additionally, the E Book’s gender-specific policies suggest that certain types of clothing are attributed to specific genders (such as skirts to females and ties to males). Instead of creating a general rule for all genders, the E Book isolates each gender and further emphasizes their constructed societal differences.
The dress code is also outdated in that it fails to clearly define “professional” attire for females. It is understandable why the E Book struggles to do this since females have only recently entered the professional world in the long history of Western society, but instead of creating clear guidelines of what females should wear, the E Book emphasizes what females cannot wear. This can be seen in the long list of prohibited items of clothing that include revealing necklines, spaghetti straps, and shorts shorter than fingertip length. The E Book seems to focus more on making sure females do not appear provocative rather than ensuring that they are dressed professionally. The E Book suggests that it is wrong to bare too much of one’s leg or to expose too much skin. Through the E Book’s policy to ensure that females are less sexually promiscuous, it perpetuates the sexualization of certain female body parts like legs and arms.
That being said, I admit that making a completely equal and non-discriminatory dress code is difficult. What we wear is so deeply ingrained in our societal gender roles that it is nearly impossible to shake off these beliefs. If the dress code is made gender-neutral, males cannot be isolated and be the only ones forced to wear ties and collared shirts. Either both males and females would have to wear ties and collared shirts, or neither gender should have to. As a female, I currently enjoy the freedom to wear a variety of different clothes. I cannot imagine having to wear a tie and a suffocating collared shirt every day. However, I would give up this right if it meant having an equal and fair dress code. Making the dress code stricter for everyone might seem like we are taking a step back instead of being progressive, but I think the important thing is that the Academy takes a stand against gender inequality.
Right now, it is unfair for the boys to suffer on their own and for the girls to be so sexualized in the E Book. The dress code is a lose-lose situation that no one is really benefiting from. I probably talk about feminism a lot and the differences in the way sexes are treated, but dress code is especially important because it is something we see every day. We notice the divide in classes and on the campus so easily. We can tell if someone is a boy or a girl from a mile away just from what clothes he or she is wearing. Maybe the dress code will not change this year or the next, but the world around us is changing every second. Maybe someday, boys will wear dresses and girls will wear ties, but for now, it looks like the dress code is here to stay.