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Why Do Dress Codes Respond To Gender Discrimination?

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Dress codes are another area where gender discrimination seems like it should be easy to address. The initial thought is to remove any aspects that reference the clothing of only one gender. This does not fix the underlying problem however. Many dress codes, the way they are explained, and the way they are enforced, are based on sexist beliefs (Raby, 2010). Girls who dress in what is deemed inappropriate clothing are labelled as problematic and inviting of the abuse. School counselors can work during the development of dress codes to limit the “slut shaming” and gendered language that can lead to these beliefs. This cause may be more easily fought for by male counselors (Coulter, 1995) but female counselors should not be discouraged from making …show more content…

Unfortunately again, this does not prevent it from happening. In these situations, school counselors may not hear about the problematic aspects until a student or multiple students complain. By the time it gets to this point, students are often upset and angry (Sadker & Sadker, 1994). It is tempting to take the student’s side immediately, but school counselors need to be cautious. It is important that school counselors address any issues of gender discrimination or sexism in a professional manner. The school counselor needs to maintain positive working relationships with teachers and administrators at their school. In cases when students are critical of a teacher’s teaching style and accuses them of gender discrimination, the best course of action is for the school counselor to gather as much information from different sources in order to assess the problem (Stone, 2013). They can then go to the teacher themselves or to the administration to work out a solution. It is possible, due to the unconscious nature of many of these problematic behaviours, that the teacher does not realize they are being discriminatory. Simply bringing the issue to their attention and providing some training in regards to how to have a better balance in their teaching could solve the

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