The Injustice Against Female Students
The issue with girls’ uniforms.
Side by side comparison of the girls’ and boys’ uniforms.
Uniforms have been an integral part of JD since the school first opened in 1999. From 1999 to now, the uniforms have also drastically changed, specifically, the girls’ uniforms. The girls’ uniforms have changed from not having to wear tights at all to pants to shorts to wearing tights with everything. The changes have also brought a lot of comments and opinions about how the girls’ uniforms are made and how they have to wear them. Lately, though, things have become a lot more strict. For example, girls’ shorts can only be rolled mid-thigh and they have to wear tights with skirts. A rebellion is starting as Dean Salts is starting to crack down more and more on girls’ uniforms.
Every year, there are a few weeks at the beginning of the school year where faculty and staff don’t really focus their attention on uniforms. A few weeks into the school year though, everything changes. These last couple of weeks, Dean Salts has gotten a lot more strict with the girls’ uniforms and how girls wear them. Before, people could get away with making adjustments to them, but not anymore.
“They should make the material more flexible to fit different girls’ forms better.””
— Lauryn Zlotucha
A lot of girls need to roll their shorts or to get them tailored to fit better. ”They tried to make it so that the shorts can fit different body types but failed miserably.” says freshman Aliya Sloan. “…I tailored mine to fit me better.” Sloan finished.
Many girls argue that the shorts are just really uncomfortable in general. “They are not flattering and I have to adjust things to feel comfortable.” says sophomore Lauryn Zlotucha. She believes that the administration needs to change the way that the uniforms are made. “They should make the material more flexible to fit different girls’ forms better.” she finishes.
Even though reminding students about uniforms is important, COVID protocols are the priority for Dean Salts. “Uniforms are always important but due to the COVID -19 crisis, our focus has been on getting students educated on that and following the protocols.” says Salts. “I put off uniform reminders until things settled down a little bit and now I am reminding and enforcing the uniform policies.” Students have been doing a good job with uniforms though. “Kids are doing very well now in regards to following the uniform policy for the most part.”
Patrick Reilly • Oct 2, 2020 at 9:57 am
I understand the blatant sexist procedures based around girls’ uniforms, but some of the procedures you mentioned are not unique to the girls’ uniform; for example, in the first paragraph you mentioned the rule concerning how shorts can not be rolled past mid-thigh- this is not unique to women at Juan Diego. While this was an article about the injustice against female students at Juan Diego, I feel as though the article could be improved upon with more length and a larger diversity of opinion. Even though this is a feature article, not an op/ed, you give essentially zero arguments on the account of the administration and you fail to identify how some male students may feel. Additionally, I would rock the hell out a skirt on formal dress days, why weren’t my priorities and the priorities of the student body addressed?