A Utah high-schooler who wanted to volunteer at a local Salt Lake City charity was told to go home — that she wasn’t allowed to wear pants.
“I had worn this because I thought it would best represent my professional attitude, my love for service, and I was turned away,” said student Ellie Kaiser, of her attempt to wear pants while volunteering at the Festival of Trees, Raw Story reported.
She said officials asked her to change into a skirt — but instead, she left.
Event organizers said the dress code wasn’t tantamount to gender discrimination, which Ms. Kaiser accused, but rather a simple standard for both sexes — that females wear skirts or dresses and men, dress shirts, ties and pants.
“Once someone sees someone wearing pants, then everyone thinks that would be accepted,” said Marie Partridge, the committee chairwoman for the local medical facility, Primary Children’s Hospital, that was the beneficiary of the charity drive, Raw Story reported. “We just don’t go there. We still are very strict in the way we want Primary Children’s Hospital represented.”
She also said the dress code has been in place for 44 years.
But Ms. Kaiser said the standard is sexist and needs to go.
“I thought it was extremely sexist to be honest,” she told KUTV. “I think it’s just a way of enforcing really strict stereotypes on genders, and these really aren’t reasonable rules.”
The Salt Lake City Tribune reported that Ms. Partridge’s group was formerly called the Women’s Endowment Committee, an affiliation of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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