Should women have a dress code?

Women have always been the target of a lot of discussion. There are hundreds of young men, who do nothing else than trying to find out what goes on in the minds of their closest girl friends, as if that is the most important thing to do in life.

Yet, I have always known hundreds of women who respect men provided they behave well with them. Provided they give respect to their freedom of speech, freedom of expression and freedom of being what they want to do. And talk. And be -- in short, express themselves to be what they naturally want to be.

In this connection, there is an on-going debate. Should women have a dress code? While small girl children wear frocks to school,no one ever objects to it. The same is not taken lightly when the same girl gets to wear a similar dress when in college or even after marriage.

I personally think this is outright stupid and unwanted.

Recently, several universities and colleges in India have tried to impose a dress code. Many college girls are very upset with this. After college hours they tend to "freek out" if one were to quote them.

No one, yes no one, in society has the right to dictate what a women wants to wear. One can at best counsel them, and in many cases, women in conservative societies do not dress the way women in more urban places do. What is perfectly normal in one place is not in another.

For instance, my own cousins who live in the North of India, wear sarees with the sleeveless blouses, but this is not welcome in Tamil Nadu, except Chennai, where it is now a common dress. If their husbands do not object, we have no right to interfere in their affairs. I personally think that the so-called dress code is not serving any purpose.

Every woman, more so in India, and the educated women, are very conscious of their rights and opportunities in the New India. So is their consciousness about their dress sense. Many women I know want to just be what they are -- they want to dress the way they want to dress, and hate imposition of any kind.

What is very important is that when we talk so much about women's liberation and all that, we should never stop them for wearing what they want to wear. One can of course counsel them if required, more so, if they are in a new place or a place where they do not know anyone. Even here, in many cases, women are more careful than even men, and take all precautions.

In all Tamil families for example, women are taught what to dress, and where. Yet, I know of several broad-minded parents who allow their daughters to wear whatever their husbands want after marriage. This is exactly the issue. Even the husbands cannot dictate terms, though I know for sure, that nine out of ten women would happily wear what their husbands want them to.

No reader should ever imagine I advocate women wearing very revealing dresses or something that will attract a hundred men. Never. However, the point is that there is no point in dictating what a women should wear. While counseling is alright, imposition is not.

Allow women to be what they are. And let them decide how they will dress, on any occasion. All women like to be respected, and always respect men who consistently behave well with them. Men who never show off, who are not snobbish and who never tease them or put them off with their unwanted behaviour.

My take is very clear. There is no need for a dress code for women. It is as simple as that.

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