Uniform Resurgence In French Town: Can It Tackle Class Inequality?

As a woman, I often find uniforms/dress codes socially constructed to control our bodies. It seems a tool of patriarchal manipulation to enforce stereotypical norms and conventions in an esoteric manner to ensure conformity on our part. It's smothering and chokes our choices to own our identities. 

My relationship with uniforms is marked by boisterous energy. Being in a Jesuit School for 12 years, I was always policed for my short skirt, unbuttoned shirt, short socks, high-waist skirt/low-waist skirt. So, I did see uniforms as a mechanism to create inequality, in terms of gendered treatment. You can thus, understand I would be championing the cause of no compulsory uniforms in school. 

The Flip Side of Uniforms

But, like everything, there are two sides to this chaotic relationship between uniforms and the notion of equality. 

The recent government scheme in France to introduce uniforms in schools to tackle inequality is the other side. Uniforms have not been compulsory in state schools in mainland France since 1968, until now when about 700 pupils at four schools in Beziers decided to roll out this government scheme. In addition to this, 92 schools have signed up while being discreet about their commitments. 

The education minister, Nicole Belloubet, in her statement, echoed the rationale behind this move.  “What we would like to see is if, yes or no, wearing a uniform can create tranquillity in classrooms,” Belloubet said. “We know you learn better in a peaceful environment.”

Hailing this move, Robert Menard, the mayor of Béziers, said uniforms would help combat bullying. “When you’re rich or poor, you don’t dress exactly the same way,” he said. “Now it will be less visible.”

But, do uniforms, a symbol of power and repression, have the authority to tackle inequality and discrimination? While the government surely assumes, not everyone is rallying behind them. 

The SE-Unsa teachers’ union said it was “a superficial response to a fundamental problem” and it would “in no way help resolve the troubles and failures of students”. In addition to them, parents in protest outcried that “Public [state] schools should never try to ape the worst excesses of private schools”. 

Some have also noted that this expenditure can be well directed towards improving other facilities and amenities and training more and better-paid teachers. 

What remains to be seen is whether uniforms are only aimed at bringing a structural shift in mindset or a full-blown mental revolution to tackle the notions of class and inequality. 

Personal views expressed by the author are their own