The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in Richmond, Virginia ruled Tuesday that a charter school violated its female student’s constitutional rights by making them wear skirts to school.
In a 10-6 ruling, the court said that the North Carolina school’s rule, “blatantly perpetuates harmful gender stereotypes.” (RELATED: School Warns Parents To Dress Daughters Modestly To Avoid Offending Muslim Refugees)
The ruling asserted that Charter Day School, “has imposed the skirts requirement with the express purpose of telegraphing to children that girls are ‘fragile,’ require protection by boys and warrant different treatment than male students, stereotypes with potentially devastating consequences for young girls.”
A North Carolina charter school violated female students’ constitutional rights by requiring that they wear skirts, a court ruled.
The decision said the dress code communicated “that girls are ‘fragile’” and “require protection by boys.”https://t.co/7N7Uwakf0O
— The New York Times (@nytimes) June 17, 2022
“Of course, the skirts requirement is merely one component of CDS’ imposition of ‘traditional gender roles’ on its young students,” the decision read. Mentioning that the school refers to girls as “fragile” the court wrote that, “Considering this jaw-dropping assessment of girls’ capabilities, we may never know the full scope or all the consequences of CDS’ blatant, unapologetic discrimination against its female students.”
“But the skirts requirement, harmless as it may seem to the defendants, requires only a pull of the thread to unravel the lifelong social consequences of gender discrimination. In 2022, there is no conceivable basis for allowing such obstacles to girls’ progress in our public schools,” the court concluded.