Article Written By: Grace Tobais
Following a conversation with friends regarding their employers at a supermarket urging them to wear baggier trousers to distract from their curves, I began questioning uniforms rules and why bodies - female bodies in particular - were so controversial. Flashbacks to school non-uniform days occurred as I remembered being instructed to cover my shoulders, midriff and knees as if skin was a sexual distraction from education. Shortly after, I came to the conclusion that the sexualisation of bodies deep roots sexism and outdated opinions in children/ teenagers which is then unfortunately pursued in the workplace and society generally.
“Wouldn’t institutions lack professionalism without uniform rules?”
Obviously, my aim isn't to insinuate that everyone should turn up to work in their underwear, yet, it is clear that the noun 'professionalism' often connotes blatant body shaming as opposed to actual characteristics and is wrongfully used as a scapegoat by superiors to conceal bigotry.
“But it’s just clothing?”
Psychologists studying enclothed cognition have discovered that the clothing we wear actually influences our personality, mood, confidence and interactions with other people. These behavioural traits have repercussions in work performance so it would be intelligible for principals of businesses and schools to ensure all members of their community feel comfortable, confident and respected. Realistically, this doesn't seem to be the case...
Teenage girls are regularly told to "be modest" and have "self respect" when dressing themselves in a period of their lives when they are impressionable and should instead be learning self love as they experience bodily growth and unfamiliarity. Shamed for the length of their skirts, revelation of their chests or even rips in their jeans exposing their knees, it has been normalised to misconstrue body confidence by calling girls "inappropriate", "undesirable" and "whorish". As a result, society immediately engrains negative associations with body positivity in young minds which consequently has a detrimental impact on the self esteem and body image of women. Similarly, when female students are told that certain body parts should be hidden due to so-called 'promiscuity' that may distract male pupils, schools are introducing hyper sexualisation as well as internalised sexism as girls as young as 11 are encouraged to consider the lack of self control in boys before considering their own desires and liberation.
“Do uniform rules target anyone more than others?”
Amidst the 2020 Black Lives Matter movement, a post concerning hairstyles has recently been circulating around the internet, initiating the conversation about racism and uniformity in the workplace. In summary, the post presented how if you type 'professional hairstyles' on the Google search engine, the vast majority of results are images of white people, however, when you search 'unprofessional hairstyles', the results are mainly black people. The Oxford Dictionary defines the adjective professional as "Worthy of or appropriate to a professional person; competent, skilful, or assured" which begs the question: how does a hair type have any correlation with personal skills? The unjustifiable racism and bigotry in employment and the workplace needs to be banished.
“So… should these antiquated uniform rules be eradicated?”
If uniforms are truly necessary, company leaders need to ensure they have worthy reasoning behind each and every requirement because the consequences of appearance shaming can have a long lasting effect on students, employees and society as a whole.
Schools are usually the first place girls experience sexism and body shaming, teaching them it is a part of life they should accept, rather than fight back against.
If we start actively questioning corporations about their uniform rules, they may realise they don't have the sufficient answers and begin to change them accordingly.