Dear John,

“Anything deemed inappropriate by the staff is inappropriate.”

That’s the Orwellian rule laid down by administrators at one New York City high school for what students can wear. When the advocacy group Girls for Gender Equity (GGE) surveyed 100 dress codes in NYC schools this year, they found pervasive sexism and biased enforcement that disproportionately affects girls of color and trans and gender-non conforming students.

Working together with GGE, last week I introduced legislation [[link removed]] to demand the DOE institute a gender-inclusive dress code across all NYC schools, and to require reporting on gender and enforcement bias in existing dress codes. Join the campaign for gender equity in our schools:

Join the Campaign [[link removed]]

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At a federal hearing last year on disciplinary bias facing girls of color, Bronx high school student Oumou Kaba told her story of being forced to tape pieces of cardboard to the rips in her jeans to wear all day at school. She was suspended when she refused to wear the cardboard.

Girls for Gender Equity found pervasive gender-bias in specific prohibitions, subjective language, and disparities in enforcement. 55 dress codes banned “crop tops,” 28 codes banned “tube tops,” and others banned lipstick, platform shoes, and halter tops, in each case singling out specifically feminized modes of dress. Other dress codes had extremely subjective prohibitions, giving leeway for staff to police gender and cultural expression through vague requirements that dress “display self-respect,” and prohibiting “suggestive” dress, “excessive” jewelry, and “distracting” hairstyles.

These prohibitions aren’t just vague and ridiculous. They send the harmful message that the onus for preventing sexual harassment or assault is on girls to cover up, rather than educating boys about healthy consent. They give school administrators the role of policing gender expression, creating a negative culture that shames cis and trans girls and gender-non conforming students for their identities and appearances. And they further a system that reinforces stereotypes and disproportionately punishes girls of color and TGNC students.

Of all the dress codes GGE looked at, only 1 out of 100 schools included an intentional, gender-inclusive code. Only one.

My daughter Rosa was the first person who brought problems with subjective, discriminatory dress codes to my attention. Four years ago, as a seventh grader, she and her classmates protested unfair dress code enforcement (including an incident where a classmate was told that a t-shirt with the world “feminist” violated the dress code).

Together with Girls for Gender Equity and other advocates, we’re launching a campaign for the Department of Education to establish a strong citywide policy that insures affirming, gender-inclusive dress codes for all our schools … not just 1% of them.

Join the campaign. [[link removed]]

Thanks,

Brad

Lander for NYC
456 Fifth Avenue, 3rd Floor, Suite 2
Brooklyn, NY 11215
[email protected]

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