France backs crop top ban in schools after minister says girls should ‘dress in the republican style’

Pupils at French high schools have protested over sexism in classroom dress codes

The French education minister has fuelled debate about what school pupils wear in classrooms (AFP via Getty Images)

A majority of people in France believe that schoolgirls should be banned from wearing crop tops and that bras ought to be obligatory, according to a poll carried out after a government minister sparked debate by ordering pupils to dress in “republican style”.

Girls in high schools across the country wore miniskirts and low-cut or crop tops to lessons last month to express anger at double standards in dress codes.

The day of protest was inspired by stories on social media of humiliated female students being sent home or told off by headteachers for “provocative” outfits, while their male classmates were allowed to wear what they liked.

Education minister Jean-Michel Blanquer generated further controversy last week with his reaction to the discrimination complaints, insisting that teenagers should follow the principles of the French republic, founded in 1792, although he did not clarify what that meant.

“It’s important to dress appropriately for school,” he said. “School is not like other places. You don’t go to school as you would to the beach or a nightclub. Everyone knows that you should go to school dressed in the republican style.”

A large part of the French public appears to agree that schoolgirls should dress conservatively, with 55 per cent of questioned by Ifop saying that crop tops should not be permitted. Meanwhile, 66 per cent said that putting on tops or dresses without a bra at school was unacceptable.

Predictably, perhaps, the survey revealed a sharp age divide. Some 79 per cent of people aged over 65 objected to girls abandoning bras, which have been held up as a symbol of women’s sartorial oppression since France’s second wave of feminism in the 1960s.  The figure fell to 49 per cent among adults under 30.

The emphasis on “modest” dress has been criticised by students, who attend high school in France between the ages of 15 and 18, with many responding that young people should be educated rather than covered up.

Mr Blanquer’s comments have been widely mocked online, with commentators pointing out that one of France’s founding principles is freedom. Some have circulated pictures of 19th Century artist Eugène Delacroix’s famous republican painting, Liberty leading the people, depicting a bare-breasted heroine.

In the wake of the #MeToo movement, schools have often become the focus of feminist battles in France, with its equivalent hashtag #BalanceTonPorc (‘call out your pig’) gradually becoming #BalanceTonBahut (‘call out your college’).