Ever since a young age girls are taught to cover-up for their safety and to help with not distracting those in class. Recently there has been an uprising amount of people speaking out about these sexist dress codes. Even at Hays High School there have been students who have had a problem with this.

It is culture!

While Hays’s district dress code not only targets young women but also targets black students. On the Hays website, it states that “hats or other head coverings are not allowed to be worn or displayed by students… this includes do-rags”. Do-rags are known to help sustain the natural oils in the hair to keep a curl pattern and prevent breakage of the hair. As well as bonnets that are used to help protect hair from being ruined and keep sustainable. Black students have also been told their hair is “unprofessional” or “distracting” when kept in protective styles, like braids.

We are here for education. School is for education, not for those who are here to dictate what students can and cannot wear. To say that a shirt is too short, or a girl’s shoulders are distracting is to simply disturb her from a learning experience.

Many students have come to the collective agreement that the dress code is sexist. When going through the district dress code for 2021-2022 you can see how much the rules target women: no midriff, no exposed back, tight-fitting pants must be worn with a shirt that covers below the waist, no oversized clothing, shorts and skirts worn at a modest length. As well as to reference the beginning of the year slideshow to show off our dress code, most of the pictures shown were of women.

Perhaps it’s time to change the approach and target more equitably, or drop the outdated requirements.