Staffers don’t have right to bare arms, B.C. legislature says
VICTORIA Women at the B.C. legislature are fighting for their right to bare arms.
Female reporters and staffers went sleeveless in protest Thursday after several were told to cover up at the people’s house.
“It’s ridiculous,” said Shannon Waters, a reporter with the B.C. Today newsletter, who was among the women who bared their arms after their colleagues were targeted.
It all started Wednesday when a senior government staffer was told to cover her bare arms in the legislature hallway.
“She was wearing a lovely cap sleeve blouse and she was told to put on a jacket or not be in the hallway,” Waters said.
“We didn’t think this woman’s blouse was in any way inappropriate. So we were talking amongst ourselves and said, ‘Well, why don’t we all just show up tomorrow without sleeves on?’”
But the bare-arms police were back on patrol on Thursday. At least two female reporters were told to cover up, and one female staffer was targeted for another reason.
“One of my staff was told by the ledge assembly to wear a slip under her dress as it was clinging to her legs as she walked,” Green Party MLA Sonia Furstenau said on Twitter.
“Heaven forbid people realize she has limbs under her skirt! The women in this building are here to work, not dress for outdated rules.”
The women were admonished by members of the legislature’s sergeant-at-arms staff.
Randy Ennis, the acting sergeant-at-arms, said there is a dress code at the legislature.
“The women’s dress code is suitable business attire that would be akin to what gentlemen would wear,” Ennis said, adding the code is outlined in a memo that is “several decades” old.
“We’ll go back and see if it needs to be updated,” he said, adding he had not talked to his staff about why the women were admonished.
“I’m not up on the latest women’s fashions and what would be permitted,” he said.
Finance Minister Carole James, revealing a sleeveless blouse under her blazer, called for change.
“We need to modernize the dress code,” James said.
“We all know you dress in business attire. It doesn’t matter whether you have sleeves or you don’t have sleeves.”
James said Speaker Darryl Plecas ordered a review of the dress code, but Plecas later appeared to endorse the current guidelines.
“Gender-neutral business attire generally constitutes layered clothing that includes covered shoulders,” Plecas said in a statement.
“For an individual who identifies as a woman, this would typically include a business suit, dress with sleeves, or a skirt with a sweater or blouse.”
Plecas said he ordered a review of “appropriate parliamentary dress.”
Waters, meanwhile, said she was overwhelmed with support on social media, including one message that said: “The 1950s called and what their dress code back.”
“We don’t have a problem with there being a dress code and us dressing professionally — we all do that anyway,” she said.
“What we’re frustrated with is an arbitrary interpretation and enforcement in this building about what does and does not constitute professional dress for women. I personally don’t think women’s bare arms are unprofessional or offensive.”