This whole issue with the dress code and female parliamentary aides being prevented from entering the Knesset is very strange, and I do not know what is the right course of action.
The Knesset recently updated its dress code to include "short skirts", among other things, as being considered inappropriate dress.
This past week a couple of parliamentary aides wearing dresses with the skirt hem reaching above the knee were prevented from entering the Knesset, because of the dress code, They were supposedly taken aside by Knesset ushers or guards and their skirts were measured with rulers.
There is nothing wrong with the Knesset having a dress code.
If they are going to ban "short skirts", or anything else particularly vague, they should really lock that down and define what is considered a short skirt. Is anything above the knee considered short? mid-thigh? maybe even mid-calf? Maybe women entering with skirts 2 inches above the ankle should be stopped for breaking the dress code? Who is to say what is short?
As well, there must be a better way to deal with this than blocking people from entering and taking a ruler to their legs. That seems, to me, to be particularly demeaning, and even unprofessional.
And what would the ruler have told them anyway? The dress code posted on the Knesset website doesn't say anything about a specific length of skirt being allowed or banned. So whether they measured 2 centimeters, 10 centimeters, 15 centimeters, or whatever, it is a meaningless measurement. The determination of "short skirt" seems to be in the eye of some anonymous beholder..,
I don't know the solution, but the dress code has to take into account respectful dress acceptable upon society and be more specific. And people entering the Knesset premises, whether they are guests or whether they work there, need to follow the dress code.
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