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SEXISM

Anger over ‘sexist’ clothing rules for girls at Swiss high school

Girls at a high school in the Swiss canton of Bern have reacted angrily to an email suggesting they dress in a less provocative manner.

Published: 13 June 2018 09:34 CEST
Anger over 'sexist' clothing rules for girls at Swiss high school
This is the sort of look the school wants girls to avoid. File photo: Depositphotos

In the message, the principal of the Gymnasium Oberaargau, Barbara Kunz, said it had come to the school’s attention that “in the warmer weather, views were being granted that would best be avoided.”

The principal recommended the girls cover up more, for their “own protection and out of respect for others”.

Read also: Thousands march for women's rights in Zurich

A graphic accompanying the email suggested girls avoid strapless tops, and “permanently visible” underwear.

“Remember that you are not going out or to the pool,” Kunz said in her emailed message.

But girls at the school have reacted angrily to the recommendations which makes no mention of boys clothing.

The graphic used by the Oberaargau school in its email was copied from that used by a German high school. But the original image also included guidelines for male students, which the Swiss school had edited out.


The original email from the school to students.

“We are being treated as objects. This is clearly sexist,” one 17-year-old female student told Swiss news portal 20 Minuten.

“If school directors are going to make recommendations, they should do it for boys and girls,” 18-year-old student Michelle Stauffer told the news site.

Meanwhile, students have put up English-language signs in school bathrooms reading: “Instead of shaming girls for their bodies, teach boys that girls are not sexual objects.”

“Our thighs, legs, shoulders, bra straps or stomachs are not distracting. They are simply a body part,” the A4 signs also state.

Students also told 20 minutes that some of their classmates were now dressing provocatively for the first time to spite the principal.

But Kunz on Monday defended the clothing recommendations telling regional daily Berner Zeitung that the intention had been to draw girls’ attention to the impression they might give.

She said the clothing issue regularly came up in warmer weather and that her message did not mention either controls or punishment.

The school principal also noted the image included with her email was sprinkled with humour while her deputy Robert Zemp said school uniforms were not the goal and that the idea was to help boys and girls to deal with the freedom they enjoyed.

Read also: Student leads criticism of sexist campaigning

EQUALITY

Could Switzerland officially recognise a third gender status?

Legally, there are only two sexes in Switzerland: men and women. But could Nemo’s victory in the Eurovision Song Contest on Saturday change this?

Published: 14 May 2024 15:23 CEST
Could Switzerland officially recognise a third gender status?

Nemo identifies as ‘non-binary,’ that is, neither male nor female — the so-called ‘third sex.’

Therefore, non-binary people use the pronoun ‘they’ to identify themselves, rather than ‘he’ or ‘she.’

Nemo said their winning song, “The Code,” should send a message that Switzerland, where between dozens and possibly hundreds of thousands people are non-binary — should officially recognise those who don’t feel they belong to either the masculine or the feminine gender.

In a study by the Ipsos institute dated June 2023, Switzerland had the most people declaring themselves non-binary, transgender or gender fluid, among 30 countries analysed. Could the fact that neighbours Austria and Germany already recognise the so-called “third sex” encourage Switzerland to make a similar move?

So will it?

In a report it published at the end of 2022, the Federal Council decided that Switzerland is not ready to register a third gender in the civil status register.

Such a change, the government pointed out at the time, would require numerous adaptations of the Constitution, as well as federal and cantonal laws.

The population may not be quite ready for such a change either.

In May 2023, a survey published by Tamedia, Switzerland’s largest media group, showed that 62 percent of respondents, when asked whether they would approve of adding a “third gender” or “miscellaneous” box in official documents, answered “no.”

Could Nemo’s victory shift public opinion, along with the government’s stance?

The hopes of the non-binary community lie with Beat Jans, head of the Federal Department of Justice.

Before he was elected to the Federal Council in December 2023, Jans was the head of Basel’s government.

In that role, he launched a number of measures to expand the canton’s equality law to combat sex discrimination, including against non-binary, trans, intersex people, and the LGBTQIA+ community in general.

Jans already said he wants to meet with Nemo and discuss their views of the issues faced by that community in Switzerland.

Whether such a meeting would actually pave the way to statutory changes, however, remains to be seen.

How do the Swiss feel about non-traditional family models in general?

In September 2021, 64 percent of Swiss voters approved the “marriage for all” legislation, allowing gay and lesbian couples to get legally married.

The law went into effect on July 1st, 2022. 

Several years prior, in 2018, the parliament had extended the scope of Switzerland’s anti-racism laws to include discrimination based on sexual orientation.

As a result, homophobia had become a criminal offence.

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