Should School Dress Code Policies Be Paid To Target Girls?

Imagine sitting in class taking notes, when a school administrator comes into the classroom, pulls one of the girls from class, and explains how they chose to dress is considered inappropriate and distracting. In most cases, girls of past generations as well as today’s generation do not have to imagine this. School dress code policies have been targeting girls for many years. While there have been attempts to change this policy or make it fair, there seem to be minimal to no changes. Research has shown that school dress codes tend to target girls rather than boys. Specifically, targeting girls clothing more often, claiming that a girl's choice of clothing “distracts” a boy from his education, and taking away a girl’s way of self expression

These school dress code policies control or restrict clothing items mostly worn by girls. According to Cole Claybourn’s article, “The report also found that dress codes ‘more frequently restrict items typically worn by girls” (Claybourn) Helping to explain how these policies target items girls wear rather than items typically worn by boys. Many believe this policy to be extremely sexist and believe that it blames girls by body shaming them. According to Li Zhou’s article, “Many of these protests have criticized the dress codes as sexist in that they unfairly target girls by body-shaming and blaming them for promoting sexual harassment.” (Zhou) Proving that one of the main issues with school dress code policies is the amount of discrimination that girls may have to face throughout their time in the education system. There is also the issue of why a girl is disciplined for what they are wearing just because they are girls. According to Jillian Jorgensen’s article, “Most of the students who are being disciplined for dress code related interactions are girls or Trans or gender nonconforming students…” (Jorgensen) Adding to the amount of unfairness the school dress code policy has, especially towards girls in the education system. The school dress code policies target clothing items worn by girls, and restrict girls by disciplining them or controlling them, showing how the school dress code

School dress code policies are used as a way to try and regulate a girl's body, while also taking away their opportunity to express themselves. According to the article written by Stevens Point Journal, “In Wisconsin and across the country, parents and female students are pushing back against codes that they believe unfairly punish young women for expressing their style and identity.” (Stevens Point Journal) This explains how school dress code policies push away girls who are still growing from expressing themselves. One of the main motives for dress code policies is to try and regulate a girl's young body, and restrict them from being themselves. According to Courtney Mauldin’s article, “Dress codes are inherently oppressive because they seek to regulate women’s bodies and discriminate against racially marginalized communities.” (Mauldin) This seems to be part of the reason why these dress codes are feeling the need to cover up a girls body for them trying to freely dress how they would like. Restricting a young girl from being able to dress how they want could end up making them feel uncomfortable in their own clothing and bodies. According to the article written by University Times, “…clothing is a huge way to self-express or to use even as a comfort mechanism. Clothing can sometimes be distracting, but it’s not distracting enough to