Hemlines of Control: Draconian dress codes imposed on women students across India

Mutiny is brewing within the 5.5 sqkm confines of Banaras Hindu University (BHU). As the institution celebrates its centennial year, a student-led Joint Action Committee (JAC) threatens to expose clefts in BHU’s hallowed image.

Murmurs about draconian rules for girls did the rounds months after Prof. Girish Chandra Tripathi was appointed vice chancellor in November 2014. But it was an article last week in The Wire by Angellica Aribam, All India General Secretary of the National Students' Union of India (NSUI) that blew the lid on the extent of discrimination.

No mobile phones after 10 pm, no access to the library at night, no internet access (they have to use mobile data even for assignment purposes), no meat consumption, an 8 pm curfew and an affidavit pledging they won’t partake in agitations are rubrics to which only girls in BHU are expected to conform.
Of course, there’s a dress code too.

During her Independence Day speech, a warden said, ‘Men look at you regardless of what you wear. But when you wear revealing clothes, you invite them. If something happens then, it’s not their fault’,” says Akanksha Kedia*, a student of BHU’s Mahila Maha Vidyalaya (Women’s College). “We can’t wear shorts outside our rooms. Sleeveless tops are allowed on campus, but some wardens taunt or pass comments when we wear them.”

Kedia, an ‘underground’ member of the JAC – since girls aren’t allowed to protest – calls Mahila Maha Vidyalaya “the Kashmir of BHU” because of its relative isolation. Interactions with the opposite sex are frowned upon and participating in events is near-impossible thanks to the curfew.

“Even guards and proctors pass lewd comments, but nothing is done about it. They want that the fear of the campus being unsafe due to what we wear or when we step out remain,” Kedia points out.

Blatantly sexist rules are not unique to BHU. In 2013-14, Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) made news for issuing circulars on girls having to wear salwar-kameez and for barring them from the Maulana Azad library. In 1997, the (infamous) Fr. Joseph M. Dias, then-principal of St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai, banned (a) red attire on campus, and (b) the annual prom because, among other reasons, “girls dressed inappropriately”. The former, praise be to common sense, was rolled back by Dias’ successor, Fr. Frazer Mascarenhas.

There is much ado about everything when it comes to dress codes in Indian colleges and universities. You have probably read and heard about St. Xavier's and St Andrew's, where sleeveless tops and above-the-knee or above-ankle-length attire is disallowed for all sexes. Bangalore's Christ College goes an extra mile: girls have to forfeit leggings and even jeans for the salwar-kameez – with dupatta. But even in colleges with no arbitrary dress code, there is an unwritten rule about 'decency' and 'revealing clothing'. What is not in black-and-white is made up for by snide remarks courtesy lecturers and administrators.

As president of the Forum for Fairness in Education (FFE), Jayant Jain has fought, for years, against capitation fees and arm-wringing by educational institutions. But when it comes to fairness in imposing dress codes, this is what he has to say:

“Revealing dresses should be banned because those from hi-fi society will wear anything. This becomes difficult for students from who can't afford such clothes,” he reasons. “When you are dressed that way, you attract unnecessary attention and are likely to be eve-teased.”

When pressed about why the onus is only on girls to avoid “revealing dresses”, Jain clarifies that boys too should not wear shorts, sleeveless shirts and low-waist jeans, that clothing norms should be unilaterally forced across class, caste and gender. The FFE had written to the Mumbai University Vice Chancellor 10 years ago to implement a basic code in city colleges, but its appeal was dismissed primarily because of student opposition.

Notwithstanding his initial slant about how girls should dress, Jain's byte about revealing clothes being synonymous with class snobbery is template opinion in India. Even some of the most liberal educationists argue that clothing rules aren't so much about controlling girls as they are about a level playing field and dressing in an environment 'conducive to knowledge'.

Take former Mumbai sheriff  and HR College dean Indu Shahani, who now chairs the Indian School of Design and Innovation (ISDI), ISDI WPP School of Communication and Indian School of Management & Entrepreneurship (ISME). She believes fair dress codes are required not for 'decency', but decorum. “In management schools, you have to follow corporate culture norms. The thumb rule also applies to some law and medical colleges for their respective industries. In ISME, which is in a business hub of 109 corporates, casual clothing is out of the question.”

“ISDI and WPP, which are design and advertising schools, have more relaxed norms,” she continues. “It all depends on the objective of the institution.” Shahani has a fair point. But what of sexist decrees passed off as dress codes in both same-sex and co-ed colleges? In context of discourses about women's clothing not being an invitation for harassment, are colleges not sending young girls a dangerous message?

For Nandini Manjrekar, associate professor at the School of Education, Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), the problem goes beyond restrictions on female students. In her 2013 essay Gujarat: Patriarchy Revisited- A Dress Code for Teachers, published in Economic & Political Weekly (EPW), she wrote extensively about the sari-only imposition on vidyasahayaks (young teachers who work under contract).

“When I spoke to people in the administration (for the EPW article), they said kurtis and jeans are ‘distracting’. People in the provincial university made statements like, 'If girls don’t wear dupattas, where will we look?’,” Manjrekar shares.

“Such norms are pervasive on all campuses, whether municipal or elite private schools. It’s an all-out assault on women’s autonomy, mobility and freedom of expression. What relationship does attire have to do with producing and imbibing knowledge?”

Gisele D'Costa*, an SYBA student at Sophia College, has no qualms following a dress code a’la Indu Shahani's line of reason. But she puts it best when she thinks of the larger picture.

“Colleges are petri dishes that prepare us for the world out there,” she says. “So when you condition women on campus to think they ‘attract unnecessary attention', you aren't just part of the problem. You are the problem.”

*Names changed on request