President supports relaxing of “backward” dress codes at Ministries and State Agencies

Most of these dress codes outline that for women there must no short pants, no armless or sleeveless tops, no mini-dresses or skirts, no short tops, no tights or tube tops, no transparent clothes, no rubber slippers and even no curlers in the hair.

President supports relaxing of “backward” dress codes at Ministries and State Agencies

As outrage continues to grow among citizens over the restrictive dress code policies at several government ministries and state agencies, President David Granger has added his voice to the debate and is supporting calls for a relaxation of the dress codes that have been in existence for decades.

The President said the dress code restrictions are not law and seems, in many instances, to be backward.

“I don’t think there is need in 2016 for that sort of restriction,” he added.

The restriction is still in effect at several Government Ministries and state agencies including, the Guyana Post Office Corporation, the Central Immigration and Passport Office,the Ministry of the Presidency and public schools.

Some agencies, like the Guyana Revenue Authority, have taken a decision to relax the code.

Most of these dress codes outline that for women there must no short pants, no armless or sleeveless tops, no mini-dresses or skirts, no short tops, no tights or tube tops, no transparent clothes, no rubber slippers and even no curlers in the hair.

For men it is most often no vests, no short pants, no three-quarter pants, no rubber slippers, no armless or sleeveless jerseys.

President Granger said there is need for places to be more liberal and noted his agreement with serving public interest first.

Mr. Granger has joined other like-minded Guyanese in calling for a review of the dress code Guyana still enforces.

“If a persons is clean and decently clad and doesn’t offend public morality I think that public services should be extended to those persons,” he said.

“It is an unnecessary imposition, especially when people have to travel distances to conduct business with the government…. I don’t know where it came from but it seems to be quite archaic in some respects,” he added.

The President said the codes have been taken to ridiculous extremes in some cases.

“I got complaints from parents where children are being told to wear white socks and black shoes… you mean because of the dress code those children will be deprived of an education?”

The Head of state said this is not an area that the government will deal with at a legislative level but said he supports the relaxation.

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