Dress Policing at Higher Learning Institutions in Zimbabwe: Discourses on the Bulawayo Polytechnic College Dress Code Declaration

Abstract

In November 2022, the administrators at Bulawayo Polytechnic College instituted a new dress code at its campus, sparking public outrage. This college dress code reinvigorated debates on the age-old questions of morality and rights. On one hand, there is a strong belief that the implementation of dress codes may lead to the violation of students’ rights and self-expression. On the other hand, others contend that ‘revealing’ dresses may disrupt teaching and learning. This article uses this Bulawayo Polytechnic ‘moment’ to explore the discourses and debates surrounding dress codes in higher education institutions. Drawing upon Foucault’s theorisation on discourse, discipline and governmentality, we consider school dress codes as technologies of power. Data were collected from college students. At the core of these debates on choices of clothes are issues of policing and disciplining female bodies, rape culture, body shaming, victim-blaming and surveillance.