School Uniforms have been adopted since the American Colonization after the Spanish-

American War in 1898. Philippine Schools commonly require students to buy school uniforms,

specially private and catholic schools. Just like any other schools, uniforms are typically the

color of the school, buttoned up shirt, knee-length skirt for girls and pants for boys. The term

dress code is defined as an accepted way of dressing for a particular occasion or in a particular

social group (Cambridge, 2021). Too often, school dress codes are enforced in ways that

disproportionately impact students — both male and female (Pavlakis & Roegman, 2020). As it

is seen as something that limits a person’s freedom of expression. For centuries, dress codes have

always been a major issue in schools. Where it dictates students what is appropriate to wear and

what’s not.

Gendered dress codes are a prime example of double standards, where, in an effort to

desexualize girls, schools are actually sexualizing them (Whisner, 1982). The fact that a

woman’s clothing is seen as distracting is problematic, aside from perpetuating rape culture, it

also promotes victim blaming. At the early stages, children become aware of their gender roles

and how to bring off masculinity and femininities. By that being said, the awareness is the result

of gender socialization, where gender stereotypes occur. The social construction of gender is

actively produced through “dress, behavior, attributed personality traits, [and] expected social

roles” (Byrne, 1978, as cited in Arnot, 1982, p. 33).

Today, not too much has changed. When we feel like we can wear whatever we want to express

ourselves we still can’t change the fact that there are familiar dress codes that we still follow

from decades ago.

This study will focus on the impact of unavailability of dress code options towards students’

perceptions on gender stereotypes.

Arnot, M. (1982). Male hegemony, social class, and women’s education. In B. J. Thayer-Bacon,

L. Stone, & K. M. Sprecher (Eds.), Education feminism: Classic and contemporary readings(pp.

19-40). New York: SUNYPress.

Whisner, M. (1982). Gender-specific clothing regulation: A study in patriarchy. Harvard

Women’s Law Journal, 5, 73-119.

Cambridge Dictionary. (2021). dress code meaning: 1. an accepted way of dressing for a

particular occasion or in a particular social group: 2. a set…. Learn more.

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/dress-code

Pavlakis, A. (2020). How dress codes criminalize males and sexualize females of color.

Kappanonline.Org. https://kappanonline.org/pavlakis-roegman-dress-codes-gender-race-

discrimination/