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Vol. 9 No. 2 (2021)
Space and Culture, India: Tribute to Professor RB Singh

Perspective

‘Dress Code’ Controversy: A Victim of Misogynistic Mindset or Something Else ?

https://doi.org/10.20896/saci.v9i2.1231

Published 2021-09-29

Rituparna Bhattacharyya
Editor-in-Chief (Joint), Space and Culture, India; Senior Fellow, Advance HE (formerly Higher Education Academy), UK

Abstract

In the middle of September 2021, a female candidate wearing ‘shorts’ (the so-called ‘half pant’), hailing from Biswanath Chariali, went to Tezpur to appear at an entrance test of Assam Agricultural University (AAU) at Girijananda Chowdhury Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences (GIPS), one of the agencies of AAU.  While the gatekeeper of GIPS gave her access, the invigilator on duty at the examination hall raised eyebrows on her ‘dress code’ but allowed her to sit in the examination, coercing her to drape a curtain to cover her legs. Doing so, the invigilator not only trespassed into her personal space— her body; humiliated her by lowering her dignity. This perspective is an attempt to revisit the debate of the dress code of Indian women, which refuses to die even in 21st Century India.

Keywords

Shorts/Half-Pants, Dress Code, Indian Women, Misogyny, Assam, India

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References

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