Should Dressing Code be enforced on Nigerian Campuses?

By Msonter Anzaa

Males put on sagged trousers that reveal three different layers of underwear, and shirts unbuttoned with chests lying bare. Ladies wear tight, short skirts that reveal the thighs. Trousers are designed never to reach the waist thus exposing the upper parts of the buttocks and lower abdomen. Their tops are short and scanty, hardly covering the abdomen and revealing the upper curves of the breasts and the skin between them. Others put on tight trousers revealing everybody detail and blending completely with their skin colour. The prevalence of this mode of dressing is stimulating a debate on whether dressing codes should be enforced on Nigerian campuses. This essay examines arguments on both sides and concludes that a dress code is long overdue on our campuses.

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Those who oppose this dressing trend argue that it distracts others on the campus. It makes it difficult for students and staff to concentrate on their academic tasks. The phenomenon is also blamed for the increasing sexual harassment of females. The provocative dresses seduce men and put them under sexual pressure which gets relieved on their female victims. Sexual promiscuity and moral corruption so prevalent on our campuses is also attributed to indecent dressing. As a solution to this trend, its opponents call for a dressing code to be enforced on campuses. The dressing code requires students and staff to observe certain minimum standards when they dress. This is then enforced by security personnel on the campus.

Proponents of this idea are not without their opponents. Activists and women groups argue that dressing codes are targeted at women and thus constitute a form of gender discrimination. They insist that female students have the freedom to dress the way they want without being harassed by anybody. This is not true. First, dress codes are not made only for females. They also prohibit indecent dressing habits like sagging of trousers, putting on earrings and plaiting of hair among males. Second, it is interesting that they do not say dressing indecently is right. Instead, they argue that it is the freedom of people to dress that way if they so wish. But the concept of freedom is not absolute. Imagine what would happen if I park my tanker on the middle of the Lagos-Ibadan expressway just because I have the freedom to park my vehicle when I want to. Another man comes along and insists on his freedom to pass. Multiply this scenario across the various instances we have to make decisions daily and you will discover how chaotic the society will become. So it is in everyone’s interest for freedom to be regulated. In the exam for instance, a student has the freedom to write that the earth is rectangular in shape. If he writes that however, he fails. This means he cannot express his freedom of alternative thought absolutely. And if students are not free to write whatever they want in their exams, why should they be free to put on anything to the exam hall? Is this concept of freedom not rather contradictory?

One fundamental question opponents of dressing code have to ask is, when we resist a dressing code, will the resistance only be on campus, or are we also going to resist the dressing codes at our places of work? We cannot stretch the issue of freedom that far. If students put on whatever they want because they have the freedom, what happens when they also insist on the freedom to come to lectures any time they want? If our institutions are training students so that they can cope with challenges in the labour market, should they not also equip them with codes of conduct – including dressing – that are acceptable to the society in which this labour market exists? Or are we alluding to the claim that Nigeria is a codeless – or more clearly put, lawless – society?

In fact, the question of dress codes touches on the fundamental character of our society. What sort of people are we? Why do we exhibit undisguised affinity for lawlessness, corruption and allergy to discipline? We do not want to stand in the queue. We do not keep time. We do not even want to work full hours. We just want to be paid quick-quick, fast-fast. It shows that something is fundamentally wrong with our value system and perhaps it is because we have debated the enforcement of codes of conduct for too long. We must however understand that dressing code should not involve imposition of rigid rules on students. Instead, it should give general guidelines within which individuals can invoke their creativity and remain fashionable. What has been done elsewhere when ladies are compulsorily required to put on a certain covering is just an aberration.

Finally, there is need for regulation of our dress habits to minimize sexual harassment and promiscuity, reduce distraction and generally instill in us an important culture of discipline and moderation which is the main attribute of education. Given the current level of indecency exhibited on our campuses, a dressing code should not just be enforced; it must be enforced now.