The dress code at Westminster has been a controversial topic for quite some time. A Westminster sweatshirt/polo, khaki pants/shorts, and navy or black leggings with a skirt for the girls. Simple enough, right? Not necessarily. Although Westminster has one of the most lenient and comfortable dress codes out of most schools, the academy still deals with constant contention between the difference in enforcement for the girls and boys dress codes.

Many female students in the Westminster community feel that the dress code for the girls is more strict and enforced than the dress code for the boys. 

Junior Kate Sowers recounts a recent time when she was dress coded for: “Wearing leggings with an oversized sweatshirt and no skirt on a dress down Friday, but everything was covered”.

“I see boys wearing the 5 inch lulu lemon shorts on normal school days, not even dress down days” says Sowers. “Never, ever in my entire life have I seen a man be dress coded. It seems pretty unfair.” 

Furthermore, Senior Jayci Lenk expresses her aggravation towards the school’s dress code stating that: “The girls have to wear leggings and skirts to cover all of their legs, and the boys get to wear any kind of shorts no matter how short and joggers which are basically leggings, and girls can’t wear joggers either”.

More issues with the school’s dress code have been made aware during spirit week. The dress code during spirit week, though more lenient, still favors the boys as they seem to be able to wear whatever they want. 

“During spirit week boys wear cut off shirts and their whole chest is out and from the sides you can see everything and no one cares, but girls can’t get away with wearing even a tank top that covers our whole stomach!” exclaims Sowers. 

The Westminster dress code and the girls that go to the academy have had some disputes in the past. When Westminster was originally founded, the girls were allowed to wear a skirt without leggings (much alike basically every private school in the area). However, in 2011 when Westminster moved from the Ladue campus to Town and Country, the dress code took a dramatic change. Leggings became mandatory, and not because of the actual girls…it was because of the boys and the grand entry staircase. 

“Why do we have to wear leggings just because of the boys? I don’t get it” states Sowers.

Many girls continue to express their ongoing disappointment and confusion caused by the lack of consistency within the school’s dress code itself and who is actually getting dress-coded. Although there is one very simple solution: enforce the dress code consistently for both boys and girls.