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| Women's safety -much important. pinterest.com |
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| India- dress code for girls naukrinama.com |
More often than not women's equal rights in the society, their empowerment, protests against injustice to them like denial of entry of reproductive women in certain places of worship and a host of other social problems being faced by them are widely discussed in the media. A few of them have turned to be contentious issues, getting the attention of the society as a whole.
Roughly 7 to 8 years ago ago certain women's colleges and schools in some states vehemently imposed dress code for the school/college girls prohibiting them from wearing tight pants, shirts and tight skirts that might be revealing. The managements' contention was this would vitiate the atmosphere of the campus and they advised the girls to wear Salwar Kameez or loose trousers, Salwar Kameez, native to Punjab, has become a standard dress for school and college going girls across India. This dress code was meant to keep the girls away from men's lustful eyes and to make the girl's life easy.
Critics felt that such retrogressive steps would never work now or in the future, besides women would get marginalized and would be tagged as weak. If women's freedom and mobility are restricted this will not reduce the crime against women which is a global menace. Rather they will be considered weal and vulnerable. If more restrictions are imposed on them, correspondingly, this will more increase the curiosity of men. In this male-dominated society, dress code for college/ school girls will not create a safer society. I would like to briefly present the following incidents that had happened in the past.
Dress code for school teachers of Kerala?
If you think the dress code or restriction were imposed only on girl students across many states, you are wrong. Roughly, a decade ago in the SW state of Kerala, where the literacy rate is way high, the state government gave female teachers the right to wear churidar or salwar while on teaching duty. But the school managements giving priority to moral policing and modesty of girls thought other-wise despite government regulation. The paradox is in the majority of unaided and private institutions run by many Hindu communities and Christian missionaries, the unwritten rule imposed by them was teachers should wear sari saying it is the ‘tradition’ and ‘symbol of dignity.’ What is the rationale behind this subtle restriction? Students ‘respect’ teachers and hold them in esteem only when they teach wearing sari!!
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| newindianexpress.com |
Schools like Chinmaya Vidyalayas and those run by Christian missionaries had a sari code. Their contention was there should be a visual divide or a sort of marker between the teacher and the taught. The management felt: “Churidar is a convenient dress. But sari is a symbol of dignity''.
Presently, I have no idea whatsoever about the dress code prevalent in the unaided schools of Kerala. However, the restriction on duty teachers in schools was against the government order issued on February 4, 2008 allowing teachers to wear churidar/salwar following complaints about the discomfort of wearing saris. The order mentioned that as per Kerala Education Rules, there are no specific rules with regard to the dress code of teachers
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| dress restrictions in Haryana. thehindu.com |
Countless social activists consider the diktats of these khaps (self styled judiciary cum village Panchayats) unethical and rooted in the medieval era. The urban elite, though talked about the equal rights of women, they did not want to confront the members of the village council. But the girls kept breaking the village rules, of course, secretly.
https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/andhra-pradesh/diurnal-diktat-sets-village-dress-code/article
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Two year ago in the month of November 2018, an interesting scoop in the newspapers drew the serous attention of Indian women's society. It was about the ban on ''nighties'' imposed by the elders of the nondescript village - Tokalapalli in the state of Andhra. Using public decency as a ruse, elders of this village in Nidamarru mandal in West Godavari district banned women from wearing nighties during the day as they invited disparaging and humiliating remarks from a section of men when ventured out. To solve this menace and protect the women folks' modesty , the elders chipped in and decided that the sight of nightie-clad women in public places like markets, schools hospitals, etc would be affront to the decent society. The violation of the dress ban would invite a fine of Rs.2000. The Mandal/ village panchayat with 9 members (elected by the local community) from the Vaddi caste (mostly farm and fishing community) passed a resolution in the meeting introducing a ban on nighties from dawn to dusk in public places within the village limit.
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| Ban on nightie, Andhra state.thehindu.com/ |
After the ban there were no protests from the women folks, rather many of them welcomed the decision taken by the elders of the village. They also did admit that they patiently had to put up with unwanted and disgusting stare and remarks from men in the village when going out with the nightie on.
https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/andhra-pradesh/diurnal-diktat-sets-village-dress-code/article
When the topic of western clothing for girls comes up for discussion invariably lots of people put the blame on the girls who dress themselves up in skirts or jeans. They also don't leave the movies either, because the films mostly portray modern dress clad girls. The girls with modern dress on are looked upon with a weird gaze and are often subject to sharp criticism. Countless old timers and conservative people in India are crying hoarse about the erosion of Indian culture and age-old tradition. Despite the onslaught of western culture like celebrating Valentine day, lover's day, etc that are new to the Indian society, a large section of women folks in the urban and rural areas do not give up on basic ethics and cling onto age-old traditional dress with a touch of modernity. The ban on women wearing tight western clothing is considered as a solution for sexual harassment by many. It is not the right solution, no matter what kind of political clouts the culprits have, the rapists and people doing other mischief with girls must be severely punished up to 10 years rigorous imprisonment besides a hefty fine running into Rs, one lakh plus. In the present scenario erring men should be more subject to scrutiny.
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